Context. The role of low ionization nuclear emission region (LINER) galaxies within the picture of active galactic nuclei (AGN) has been controversial. It is still not clear whether they host an AGN in a low accretion mode or whether they are not active at all but are instead dominated by alternative ionization mechanisms, namely shocks, winds/outflows, or photoionization by a post-asymptotic giant branch (p-AGB) stellar population. The detection of extended LINER-like emission was often taken as evidence of ionization by stellar components, but this has not been undisputed. Aims: Using optical spectroscopy, we examine the possible ionization mechanisms responsible for the extended LINER-like emission in the central ~4 kpc of NGC 5850. Methods: We performed integral field spectroscopic observations using VIMOS at the VLT, which provides spatially-resolved spectra for the gas emission and the stellar continuum. We subtract the underlying stellar continuum from the galaxy spectra and fit the emission lines. With these methods, we derive and analyze emission line and kinematic maps. Emission line ratio maps are examined by means of diagnostic diagrams. Results: The central few kpc of NGC 5850 are dominated by extended LINER-like emission. The emission-line ratios that are sensitive to the ionization parameter increase with radial distance to the nucleus. The LINER-like region is surrounded by emission that is classed as "composite" in terms of diagnostic diagrams. Two star-forming (SF) regions are present in the 21″ × 19″ field of view. One of them is located approximately in the ring, surrounding the kinematically decoupled core. The second one is close to the nucleus and is the origin of a region of decreased emission line ratios oriented radially outwards. We find the interstellar gas to have a complex kinematic morphology and to have areas of steep velocity gradients. Conclusions: The extended LINER-like emission in NGC 5850 is dominated by ionization from

NGC 1808 is a nearby barred spiral galaxy which hosts young stellar clusters in a patchy circumnuclear ring with a radius of 240 pc. In order to study the gaseous and stellar kinematics and the star formation properties of the clusters, we perform seeing-limited H + K-band near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy with SINFONI of the inner 600 pc. From the MBH-σ∗ relation, we find a black hole mass of a few 107M⊙. We estimate the age of the young stellar clusters in the circumnuclear ring to be ≲10 Myr. No age gradient along the ring is visible. However, the starburst age is comparable to the travel time along the ring, indicating that the clusters almost completed a full orbit along the ring during their lifetime. In the central 600 pc, we find a hot molecular gas mass of 730 M⊙ which, with standard conversion factors, corresponds to a large cold molecular gas reservoir of several 108M⊙, in agreement with CO measurements from the literature. The gaseous and stellar kinematics show several deviations from pure disc motion, including a circumnuclear disc and signs of a nuclear bar potential. In addition, we confirm streaming motions on the 200 pc scale that have recently been detected in CO(1-0) emission. Thanks to the enhanced angular resolution of <1″, we find further streaming motion within the inner arcsecond that had not been detected until now. Despite the flow of gas towards the centre, no signs of significant AGN activity are found. This raises the question: will the infalling gas fuel an AGN or star formation? Based on observations with ESO-VLT, STS-Cologne GTO proposal ID 094.B-0009(A) and ESO archival data, proposal nos 074.A-9011(A) and 075.B-0648(A).

We study the internal radial gradients of stellar population properties within 1.5 Re and analyse the impact of galaxy environment. We use a representative sample of 721 galaxies with masses ranging between 109 M⊙ and 1011.5 M⊙ from the SDSS-IV survey MaNGA. We split this sample by morphology into early-type and late-type galaxies. Using the full spectral fitting code FIREFLY, we derive the light and mass-weighted stellar population properties, age and metallicity, and calculate the gradients of these properties. We use three independent methods to quantify galaxy environment, namely the Nth nearest neighbour, the tidal strength parameter Q and distinguish between central and satellite galaxies. In our analysis, we find that early-type galaxies generally exhibit shallow light-weighted age gradients in agreement with the literature and mass-weighted median age gradients tend to be slightly positive. Late-type galaxies, instead, have negative light-weighted age gradients. We detect negative metallicity gradients in both early- and late-type galaxies that correlate with galaxy mass, with the gradients being steeper and the correlation with mass being stronger in late-types. We find, however, that stellar population gradients, for both morphological classifications, have no significant correlation with galaxy environment for all three characterizations of environment. Our results suggest that galaxy mass is the main driver of stellar population gradients in both early and late-type galaxies, and any environmental dependence, if present at all, must be very subtle.

CCD photometry of Andromeda IV was obtained during discretionary time in August of 1989 at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea and the data were reduced at CFHT during the summer of 1991. And IV has been catalogued both as a dwarf galaxy and as an open star cluster in M31. The color-magnitude diagrams presented indicate that this object has a young population of stars with a narrow age range, consistent with the characteristics of an open star cluster or stellar association. A radial velocity measurement taken from the literature and analyzed with respect to the rotation curve of M31 indicates this object resides in the disk of the Andromeda Galaxy, strengthening the conclusion that it is indeed a very large open star cluster or a densely populated stellar association rather than a dwarf irregular galaxy.

Context: Studies of the effects of environment on galaxy properties and evolution require well defined control samples. Such isolated galaxy samples have up to now been small or poorly defined. The AMIGA project (Analysis of the interstellar Medium of Isolated GAlaxies) represents an attempt to define a statistically useful sample of the most isolated galaxies in the local (z ≤ 0.05) Universe. Aims: A suitable large sample for the AMIGA project already exists, the Catalogue of Isolated Galaxies (CIG, Karachentseva, 1973, Astrofizicheskie Issledovaniia Izvestiya Spetsial'noj Astrofizicheskoj Observatorii, 8, 3; 1050 galaxies), and we use this sample as a starting point to refine and perform a better quantification of its isolation properties. Methods: Digitised POSS-I E images were analysed out to a minimum projected radius R ≥ 0.5 Mpc around 950 CIG galaxies (those within Vr = 1500 km s-1 were excluded). We identified all galaxy candidates in each field brighter than B = 17.5 with a high degree of confidence using the LMORPHO software. We generated a catalogue of approximately 54 000 potential neighbours (redshifts exist for ≈30% of this sample). Results: Six hundred sixty-six galaxies pass and two hundred eighty-four fail the original CIG isolation criterion. The available redshift data confirm that our catalogue involves a largely background population rather than physically associated neighbours. We find that the exclusion of neighbours within a factor of four in size around each CIG galaxy, employed in the original isolation criterion, corresponds to Δ Vr ≈ 18 000 km s-1 indicating that it was a conservative limit. Conclusions: Galaxies in the CIG have been found to show different degrees of isolation. We conclude that a quantitative measure of this is mandatory. It will be the subject of future work based on the catalogue of neighbours obtained here. Full Table [see full text] is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc

We study the spatially resolved excitation properties of the ionized gas in a sample of 646 galaxies using integral field spectroscopy data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) programme. Making use of Baldwin-Philips-Terlevich diagnostic diagrams we demonstrate the ubiquitous presence of extended (kpc scale) low-ionization emission-line regions (LIERs) in both star-forming and quiescent galaxies. In star-forming galaxies LIER emission can be associated with diffuse ionized gas, most evident as extraplanar emission in edge-on systems. In addition, we identify two main classes of galaxies displaying LIER emission: `central LIER' (cLIER) galaxies, where central LIER emission is spatially extended, but accompanied by star formation at larger galactocentric distances, and `extended LIER' (eLIER) galaxies, where LIER emission is extended throughout the whole galaxy. In eLIER and cLIER galaxies, LIER emission is associated with radially flat, low H α equivalent width of line emission (<3 Å) and stellar population indices demonstrating the lack of young stellar populations, implying that line emission follows tightly the continuum due to the underlying old stellar population. The H α surface brightness radial profiles are always shallower than 1/r2 and the line ratio [O III] λ5007/[O II] λλ3727,29 (a tracer of the ionization parameter of the gas) shows a flat gradient. This combined evidence strongly supports the scenario in which LIER emission is not due to a central point source but to diffuse stellar sources, the most likely candidates being hot, evolved (post-asymptotic giant branch) stars. Shocks are observed to play a significant role in the ionization of the gas only in rare merging and interacting systems.

With the 3D data of SDSS-IV MaNGA (Bundy et al. 2015) spectra and multi-wavelength SED modeling, we expect to have a better understanding of the distribution of dust, gas and star formation of galaxy mergers. For a case study of the merging galaxy Mrk848, we use both UV-to-IR broadband SED and the MaNGA integral field spectroscopy to obtain its star formation histories at the tail and core regions. From the SED fitting and full spectral fitting, we find that the star formation in the tail regions are affected by the interaction earlier than the core regions. The core regions show apparently two times of star formation and a strong burst within 500Myr, indicating the recent star formation is triggered by the interaction. The star formation histories derived from these two methods are basically consistent.

Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) is an optical fiber-bundle integral-field unit (IFU) spectroscopic survey that is one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV). With a spectral coverage of 3622-10354 Å and an average footprint of ˜500 arcsec2 per IFU the scientific data products derived from MaNGA will permit exploration of the internal structure of a statistically large sample of 10,000 low-redshift galaxies in unprecedented detail. Comprising 174 individually pluggable science and calibration IFUs with a near-constant data stream, MaNGA is expected to obtain ˜100 million raw-frame spectra and ˜10 million reduced galaxy spectra over the six-year lifetime of the survey. In this contribution, we describe the MaNGA Data Reduction Pipeline algorithms and centralized metadata framework that produce sky-subtracted spectrophotometrically calibrated spectra and rectified three-dimensional data cubes that combine individual dithered observations. For the 1390 galaxy data cubes released in Summer 2016 as part of SDSS-IV Data Release 13, we demonstrate that the MaNGA data have nearly Poisson-limited sky subtraction shortward of ˜8500 Å and reach a typical 10σ limiting continuum surface brightness μ = 23.5 AB arcsec-2 in a five-arcsecond-diameter aperture in the g-band. The wavelength calibration of the MaNGA data is accurate to 5 km s-1 rms, with a median spatial resolution of 2.54 arcsec FWHM (1.8 kpc at the median redshift of 0.037) and a median spectral resolution of σ = 72 km s-1.

UBVRI surface photometry of NGC 7702, obtained with a CCD detector on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope and with photographic plates on the 4-m telescope at CTIO, is reported. The data are presented in tables, graphs, and contour maps and characterized in detail. NGC 7702 is found to be a true S0(+) galaxy with a bright high-contrast inner ring and a faint low-contrast outer ring; the inner ring is significantly elongated relative to typical SB inner rings and has colors which suggest a burst of star formation less than 2 Gyr ago. A small oval revealed by the bulge isophotes in the inner 4 arcsec radius is attributed to a nuclear bar. 52 refs.

We describe the algorithm used to select the luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample for the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) using photometric data from both the SDSS and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. LRG targets are required to meet a set of color selection criteria and have z-band and i-band MODEL magnitudes z < 19.95 and 19.9 < i < 21.8, respectively. Our algorithm selects roughly 50 LRG targets per square degree, the great majority of which lie in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1.0 (median redshift 0.71). We demonstrate that our methods are highly effective at eliminating stellar contamination and lower-redshift galaxies. We perform a number of tests using spectroscopic data from SDSS-III/BOSS ancillary programs to determine the redshift reliability of our target selection and its ability to meet the science requirements of eBOSS. The SDSS spectra are of high enough signal-to-noise ratio that at least ˜89% of the target sample yields secure redshift measurements. We also present tests of the uniformity and homogeneity of the sample, demonstrating that it should be clean enough for studies of the large-scale structure of the universe at higher redshifts than SDSS-III/BOSS LRGs reached.

A photometric study of the ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies Leo IV and Bootes II in the V and IC filters is here presented. The age of Leo IV relative to M92 were derived by fitting of Dartmouth isochrones, by a "standard" VHBTO method, and by the V HBTO method of VandenBerg et al. 2013. The age of Bootes II relative to M92 was derived by fitting of Dartmouth isochrones. Leo IV is found to be between 2 to 2.5 Gyr younger than M92 by these three methods. It is found to be predominantly old and metal poor and is well fit by isochrones of [Fe/H] = ---2.46 and [alpha/Fe] = 0.2 and 0.4. An age spread with a plausible value of ˜ 2 Gyr cannot be ruled out. A 10 Gyr old synthetic horizontal branch with [Fe/H] = ---1.70 and [alpha/Fe] of 0.2 is fit to Leo IV's red horizontal branch (RHB). The good fit of this model and its matching isochrone to Leo IV's CMD suggests that the RHB is real and not an observational artifact as proposed by Okamoto et al. 2012. Two RRab Lyraes previously observed by Moretti et al. 2009 were observed in Leo IV. One of the stars, V1, is observed to exhibit the Blazhko effect. No further RR Lyraes were uncovered in Leo IV. Comparison of the horizontal branch's observed V magnitude to the absolute magnitudes of the RR Lyraes yields a distance modulus of (m---M)0 = 21.01 +/- 0.07, in good agreement with previous studies. Leo IV's possible population of blue stragglers is found to show no signs of central concentration, though this study's sample and spatial coverage are too small for any detailed spatial distribution study. Bootes II's CMD is found to be consistent with that of a single age, mono-metallicity system. It is well fit by isochrones of [Fe/H] = ---1.79 and [alpha/Fe] = 0.2 and 0.4. Bootes II is found to be between 0.5 to 1.5 Gyr younger than M92. Distance was left as a free parameter in the fits. Bootes II is found to have distance modulus (m---M)0 lying between 18.02 to 18.15, in good agreement with previous studies. A single RRab Lyrae

Utilizing data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) Survey (MaNGA Product Launch-4, or MPL-4), of the latest generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV), we identified nine post-starburst (E+A) systems that lie within the Green Valley transition zone. We identify the E+A galaxies by their SDSS single fiber spectrum and u-r color, then confirmed their classification as post-starburst by coding/plotting methods and spectral synthesis codes (FIREFLY and PIPE3D), as well as with their Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) from 0.15 µm to 22 µm, using GALEX, SDSS, 2MASS, and WISE data. We produced maps of gaussian-fitted fluxes, equivalent widths, stellar velocities, metallicities and age. We also produced spectral line ratio diagrams to classify regions of stellar populations of the galaxies. We found that our sample of E+As retain their post-starburst properties across the entire galaxy, not just at their center. We detected matching a trend line in the ultraviolet and optical bands, consistent with the expected SEDs for an E+A galaxy, and also through the J, H and Ks bands, except for one object. We classified one of the nine galaxies as a luminous infrared galaxy, unusual for a post-starburst object. Our group seeks to further study stellar population properties, spectral energy distributions and quenching properties in E+A galaxies, and investigate their role in galaxy evolution as a whole. This work was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation via the SDSS-IV Faculty and Student Team (FAST) initiative, ARC Agreement #SSP483 to the CUNY College of Staten Island. This work was also supported by grants to The American Museum of Natural History, and the CUNY College of Staten Island through from National Science Foundation.

We have selected five galaxies in the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) project of the latest generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) identified as post-starburst (E+A) systems, in the transition between "blue cloud" and "red sequence" galaxies. We measure the equivalent widths of the Balmer series, D4000 break, and metal lines across each galaxy, and produce maps of the stellar age, stellar mass, and metallicities of each galaxy using FIREFLY, a full spectral analysis code. We have found that the measured properties of the galaxies overall generally matches well with single-aperture SDSS spectra from which the original post-starburst identifications were made. The variation in the spatial distributions of the stellar populations, in particular the A-stars, give us insight into the details of the transitional E+A quenching phase. This work was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation via the SDSS-IV Faculty and Student Team (FAST) initiative, ARC Agreement No. SSP483 to the CUNY College of Staten Island.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS-IV/eBOSS) will observe 195 000 emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to measure the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) standard ruler at redshift 0.9. To test different ELG selection algorithms, 9000 spectra were observed with the SDSS spectrograph as a pilot survey based on data from several imaging surveys. First, using visual inspection and redshift quality flags, we show that the automated spectroscopic redshifts assigned by the pipeline meet the quality requirements for a reliable BAO measurement. We also show the correlations between sky emission, signal-to-noise ratio in the emission lines, and redshift error. Then we provide a detailed description of each target selection algorithm we tested and compare them with the requirements of the eBOSS experiment. As a result, we provide reliable redshift distributions for the different target selection schemes we tested. Finally, we determine an target selection algorithms that is best suited to be applied on DECam photometry because they fulfill the eBOSS survey efficiency requirements. The catalog is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/592/A121

We study the internal gradients of stellar population properties within 1.5 Re for a representative sample of 721 galaxies with stellar masses ranging between 109 M⊙ to 1011.5 M⊙ from the SDSS-IV MaNGA IFU survey. Through the use of our full spectral fitting code FIREFLY, we derive light and mass-weighted stellar population properties and their radial gradients, as well as full star formation and metal enrichment histories. We also quanfify the impact that different stellar population models and full spectral fitting routines have on the derived stellar population properties, and the radial gradient measurements. In our analysis, we find that age gradients tend to be shallow for both early-type and late-type galaxies. Mass-weighted age gradients of early-types are positive (˜0.09 dex/Re) pointing to "outside-in" progression of star formation, while late-type galaxies have negative light-weighted age gradients (˜-0.11 dex/Re), suggesting an "inside-out" formation of discs. We detect negative metallicity gradients in both early and late-type galaxies, but these are significantly steeper in late-types, suggesting that radial dependence of chemical enrichment processes and the effect of gas inflow and metal transport are far more pronounced in discs. Metallicity gradients of both morphological classes correlate with galaxy mass, with negative metallicity gradients becoming steeper with increasing galaxy mass. The correlation with mass is stronger for late-type galaxies, with a slope of d(∇[Z/H])/d(log M) ˜ -0.2 ± 0.05 , compared to d(∇[Z/H])/d(log M) ˜ -0.05 ± 0.05 for early-types. This result suggests that the merger history plays a relatively small role in shaping metallicity gradients of galaxies.

In this paper we present deep Arecibo H I and WIYN optical observations of Virgo Cluster dwarf elliptical galaxies. Based on this data we argue that a significant fraction of low-mass galaxies in the Virgo Cluster recently underwent evolution. Our new observations consist of H I 21 cm line observations for 22 classified dE galaxies with optical radial velocities consistent with membership in the Virgo Cluster. Cluster members VCC 390 and VCC 1713 are detected with H 1 masses M H1= 6 x 10 sup 7 and 8 x 10 sup 7 M , respectively, while MH I values in the remaining 20 dE galaxies have upper limits as low as about 5 x 1O sup 5 M. We combine our results with those for 26 other Virgo Cluster dE galaxies with H 1 observations in the literature, seven of which have H I detection claims.

The Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Camera 2 was used for H-band imaging of 12 BL Lacertae objects taken from the larger sample observed with the WFPC2 in the R band by Urry and coworkers and Scarpa and coworkers. Ten of the 12 BL Lacs are clearly resolved, and the detected host galaxies are large, bright ellipticals with average absolute magnitude =-26.2+/-0.45 mag and effective radius =10+/-5 kpc. The rest-frame integrated color of the host galaxies is on average =2.3+/-0.3, consistent with the value for both radio galaxies and normal, nonactive elliptical galaxies and indicating that the dominant stellar population is old. The host galaxies tend to be bluer in their outer regions than in their cores, with average color gradient Δ(R-H)/Δlogr=-0.2 mag, again consistent with results for normal nonactive elliptical galaxies. The infrared Kormendy relation, derived for the first time for BL Lac host galaxies, is μe=3.8logre+14.8, fully in agreement with the relation for normal ellipticals. The close similarity between BL Lac host galaxies and normal ellipticals suggests that the active nucleus has surprisingly little effect on the host galaxy. This supports a picture in which all elliptical galaxies harbor black holes that can be actively accreting for some fraction of their lifetime.

We present the first observations of extragalactic pulsating stars in the K2 ecliptic survey of the Kepler space telescope. The variability of all three RR Lyrae stars in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo IV was successfully detected, at a brightness of Kp ≈ 21.5 mag, from data collected during Campaign 1. We identified one modulated star and another likely Blazhko candidate with periods of 29.8 ± 0.9 days and more than 80 days, respectively. EPIC 210282473 represents the first star beyond the Magellanic Clouds for which the Blazhko period and cycle-to-cycle variations in the modulation were unambiguously measured. The photometric [Fe/H] indices of the stars agree with earlier results that Leo IV is a very metal-poor galaxy. Two out of the three stars blend with brighter background galaxies in the K2 frames. We demonstrate that image subtraction can be reliably used to extract photometry from faint confused sources, which will be crucial not only for the K2 mission but also for future space photometric missions.

We present here a simple model for the star formation history (SFH) of galaxies that is successful in describing both the star formation rate density (SFRD) over cosmic time, as well as the distribution of specific star formation rates (sSFRs) of galaxies at the current epoch, and the evolution of this quantity in galaxy populations to a redshift of z = 1. We show first that the cosmic SFRD is remarkably well described by a simple log-normal in time. We next postulate that this functional form for the ensemble is also a reasonable description for the SFHs of individual galaxies. Using the measured sSFRs for galaxies at z {approx} 0 from Paper III in this series, we then construct a realization of a universe populated by such galaxies in which the parameters of the log-normal SFH of each galaxy are adjusted to match the sSFRs at z {approx} 0 as well as fitting, in ensemble, the cosmic SFRD from z = 0 to z = 8. This model predicts, with striking fidelity, the distribution of sSFRs in mass-limited galaxy samples to z = 1; this match is not achieved by other models with a different functional form for the SFHs of individual galaxies, but with the same number of degrees of freedom, suggesting that the log-normal form is well matched to the likely actual histories of individual galaxies. We also impose the sSFR versus mass distributions at higher redshifts from Paper III as constraints on the model, and show that, as previously suggested, some galaxies in the field, particularly low mass galaxies, are quite young at intermediate redshifts. As emphasized in Paper III, starbursts are insufficient to explain the enhanced sSFRs in intermediate redshift galaxies; we show here that a model using only smoothly varying log-normal SFHs for galaxies, which allows for some fraction of the population to have peak star formation at late times, does however fully explain the observations. Finally, we show that this model, constrained in detail only at redshifts z < 1, also produces

Using a sample of 215 supernovae (SNe), we analyse their positions relative to the spiral arms of their host galaxies, distinguishing grand-design (GD) spirals from non-GD (NGD) galaxies. We find that: (1) in GD galaxies, an offset exists between the positions of Ia and core-collapse (CC) SNe relative to the peaks of arms, while in NGD galaxies the positions show no such shifts; (2) in GD galaxies, the positions of CC SNe relative to the peaks of arms are correlated with the radial distance from the galaxy nucleus. Inside (outside) the corotation radius, CC SNe are found closer to the inner (outer) edge. No such correlation is observed for SNe in NGD galaxies nor for SNe Ia in either galaxy class; (3) in GD galaxies, SNe Ibc occur closer to the leading edges of the arms than do SNe II, while in NGD galaxies they are more concentrated towards the peaks of arms. In both samples of hosts, the distributions of SNe Ia relative to the arms have broader wings. These observations suggest that shocks in spiral arms of GD galaxies trigger star formation in the leading edges of arms affecting the distributions of CC SNe (known to have short-lived progenitors). The closer locations of SNe Ibc versus SNe II relative to the leading edges of the arms supports the belief that SNe Ibc have more massive progenitors. SNe Ia having less massive and older progenitors, have more time to drift away from the leading edge of the spiral arms.

We present the stellar surface mass density versus gas metallicity (Σ*-Z) relation for more than 500 000 spatially resolved star-forming resolution elements (spaxels) from a sample of 653 disc galaxies included in the SDSS IV MaNGA survey. We find a tight relation between these local properties, with higher metallicities as the surface density increases. This relation extends over three orders of magnitude in the surface mass density and a factor of 4 in metallicity. We show that this local relationship can simultaneously reproduce two well-known properties of disc galaxies: their global mass-metallicity relationship and their radial metallicity gradients. We also find that the Σ*-Z relation is largely independent of the galaxy's total stellar mass and specific star formation rate (sSFR), except at low stellar mass and high sSFR. These results suggest that in the present-day universe local properties play a key role in determining the gas-phase metallicity in typical disc galaxies.

We study the properties of 66 galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas and stars from MaNGA survey. The fraction of kinematically misaligned galaxies varies with galaxy physical parameters, i.e. M*, SFR and sSFR. According to their sSFR, we further classify these 66 galaxies into three categories, 10 star-forming, 26 `Green Valley' and 30 quiescent ones. The properties of different types of kinematically misaligned galaxies are different in that the star-forming ones have positive gradient in Dn4000 and higher gas-phase metallicity, while the green valley/quiescent ones have negative Dn4000 gradients and lower gas-phase metallicity on average. There is evidence that all types of the kinematically misaligned galaxies tend to live in more isolated environment. Based on all these observational results, we propose a scenario for the formation of star-forming galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas and stars - the progenitor accretes misaligned gas from a gas-rich dwarf or cosmic web, the cancellation of angular momentum from gas-gas collisions between the pre-existing gas and the accreted gas largely accelerates gas inflow, leading to fast centrally concentrated star formation. The higher metallicity is due to enrichment from this star formation. For the kinematically misaligned green valley and quiescent galaxies, they might be formed through gas-poor progenitors accreting kinematically misaligned gas from satellites which are smaller in mass.

We present the results of a photometric study of 85 objects from the updated sample of galaxies residing in the nearby Lynx--Cancer void. We perform our photometry on u, g, r, and i-band images of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We determine model-independent galaxy parameters such as the integrated magnitudes and colors, effective radii and the corresponding surface brightness values, optical radii and Holmberg radii. We analyze the radial surface brightness profiles to determine the central brightness values and scale lengths of the model discs. We analyze the colors of the outer parts of the galaxies and compare them with model evolutionary tracks computed using the PEGASE2 software package. This allowed us to estimate the time T_SF elapsed since the onset of star formation, which turned out to be on the order of the cosmological time T_0 for the overwhelming majority of the galaxies studied. However, for 13 galaxies of the sample the time T_SF does not exceed T_0/2 ~ 7 Gyr, and for 7 of them T_SF < 3.5 Gyr. The latter are mostly unevolved objects dominated by low-luminosity galaxies with M_B > -13.2. We use the integrated magnitudes and colors to estimate the stellar masses of the galaxies. We estimate the parameter M(HI)/L_B and the gas mass fractions for void galaxies with known HI-line fluxes. A small subgroup (about 10%) of the gas-richest void galaxies with M(HI)/L_B > 2.5 has gas mass fractions that reach 94-99%. The outer regions of many of these galaxies show atypically blue colors. To test various statistical differences between void galaxies and galaxies from the samples selected using more general criteria, we compare some of the parameters of void galaxies with similar data for the sample of 195 galaxies from the Equatorial Survey (ES) based on a part of the HIPASS blind HI survey. abridged

We present a detailed discussion of the redshift errors associated to the ESO Slice Project measurements. For a subsample of 742 galaxies with redshifts determined both from the absorption lines (Vabs) and from the emission lines (Vemi), we find an average difference =~ +100 km/s. We find that a similar effect is present in another, deeper redshift survey, the Durham/Anglo-Australian Telescope faint galaxy redshift survey (Broadhurst et al. 1988), while is absent in surveys at brighter magnitude limits. We have investigated in detail many possible sources of such a discrepancy, and we can exclude possible zero-point shifts or calibration problems. We have detected and measured systematic velocity differences produced by the different templates used in the cross-correlation. We conclude that such differences can in principle explain the effect, but in this case the non-trivial implication would be that the best-fitting template does not necessarily give the best velocity estimate. As we do not have any a priori reason to select a template different from the best-fitting one, we did not apply any correction to the ESO Slice Project velocities. However, as for a small number of galaxies the effect is so large that it is likely to have a physical explanation, we have also taken into account the possibility that the discrepancy can be partly real: in this case, it might help to understand the role of gas outflows in the process of galaxy evolution. In view of the future large spectroscopic surveys, we stress the importance of using different templates and making them publicly available, in order to assess the amplitude of systematic effects, and to allow a direct comparison of different catalogues. based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.

Using the fossil record method implemented through Pipe3D, we reconstruct the global and radial stellar mass growth histories (MGHs) of a large sample of galaxies, ranging from dwarf to giant objects, from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at the Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. We confirm that the main driver of the global MGHs is mass, with more massive galaxies assembling earlier (downsizing), though for a given mass, the global MGHs segregate by colour, specific star formation rate and morphological type. From the inferred radial mean MGHs, we find that at fractions of assembled mass larger than ˜80 per cent, the innermost regions formed stars, on average, in the inside-out mode. At earlier epochs, when the age estimation of the method becomes poor, the MGHs seem to be spatially homogeneous or even in the outside-in mode, especially for the red/quiescent/early-type galaxies. The innermost MGHs are, in general, less scattered around the mean than the outermost MGHs. For dwarf and low-mass galaxies, we do not find evidence of an outside-in formation mode; instead, their radial MGHs are very diverse most of the time, with periods of outside-in and inside-out modes (or strong radial migration), suggesting this is an episodic star formation history. Blue/star-forming/late-type galaxies present, on average, a significantly more pronounced inside-out formation mode than red/quiescent/early-type galaxies, independently of mass. We discuss our results in the light of the processes of galaxy formation, quenching and radial migration. We also discuss the uncertainties and biases of the fossil record method and how these could affect our results.

We search for high-redshift dropout galaxies behind the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223, a powerful cosmic lens that has revealed a number of unique objects in its field. Using the deep images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, we find 11 galaxies at z > 7 in the MACS J1149.5+2223 cluster field, and 11 in its parallel field. The high-redshift nature of the bright z ≃ 9.6 galaxy MACS1149-JD, previously reported by Zheng et al., is further supported by non-detection in the extremely deep optical images from the HFF campaign. With the new photometry, the best photometric redshift solution for MACS1149-JD reduces slightly to z = 9.44 ± 0.12. The young galaxy has an estimated stellar mass of (7+/- 2)× {10}8 {M}ȯ , and was formed at z={13.2}-1.6+1.9 when the universe was ≈300 Myr old. Data available for the first four HFF clusters have already enabled us to find faint galaxies to an intrinsic magnitude of {M}{UV}≃ -15.5, approximately a factor of 10 deeper than the parallel fields.

Normal galaxies, radio galaxies, and Seyfert galaxies are considered. The large magellanic cloud and the great galaxy in Andromedia are highlighted. Quasars and BL lacertae objects are also discussed and a review of the spectral observations of all of these galaxies and celestial objects is presented.

SDSS-IV/eBOSS survey will allow a ˜1% measurement of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scale and a 4.0%Redshift Space Distortion (RSD) measurement using a relatively uniform set of luminous, early-type galaxies in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1. In this talk, I will present the 3D real space clustering of a sample of ~600,000 LRGs measured by the SDSS/eBOSS, using photometric redshifts. These galaxies have accurate photometric redshifts with an average error of z = 0.028. These LRGs range from redshift z = 0.6 to 1.0 over 10,000 deg2 of the sky, making it the largest volume ever used for galaxy clustering measurements. We measure the angular clusteringpower spectrum in different redshift slices and use well-calibrated redshift distributions to combine these into a high precision 3D real space clustering. i will present an evidence for BAO in the 2-point correlation function. The detection of BAO also allows the measurement of the comoving distance to z = 1.0. Traditionally, spectroscopic redshifts are used to estimate distances to the galaxies and, in turn, to measuregalaxy clustering. However, acquiring spectroscopic redshifts is a time consuming and expensive process even with modern multi-fiber spectrographs. Although photometric redshifts are less accurate, they are signicantly easier to obtain, and for a constant amount of time, one can image both wider areas and deeper volumes than would be possible with spectroscopy, allowing one to probe both larger scales and larger volumes. The ability to make precise clustering measurements with photometric data has been well demonstrated by Padmanabhan et al. (2007).

The MaNGA Survey (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) is one of three core programs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV. It is obtaining integral field spectroscopy for 10,000 nearby galaxies at a spectral resolution of R ˜ 2000 from 3622 to 10354 Å. The design of the survey is driven by a set of science requirements on the precision of estimates of the following properties: star formation rate surface density, gas metallicity, stellar population age, metallicity, and abundance ratio, and their gradients; stellar and gas kinematics; and enclosed gravitational mass as a function of radius. We describe how these science requirements set the depth of the observations and dictate sample selection. The majority of targeted galaxies are selected to ensure uniform spatial coverage in units of effective radius (R e ) while maximizing spatial resolution. About two-thirds of the sample is covered out to 1.5R e (Primary sample), and one-third of the sample is covered to 2.5R e (Secondary sample). We describe the survey execution with details that would be useful in the design of similar future surveys. We also present statistics on the achieved data quality, specifically the point-spread function, sampling uniformity, spectral resolution, sky subtraction, and flux calibration. For our Primary sample, the median r-band signal-to-noise ratio is ˜70 per 1.4 Å pixel for spectra stacked between 1R e and 1.5R e . Measurements of various galaxy properties from the first-year data show that we are meeting or exceeding the defined requirements for the majority of our science goals.

We report the discovery of a mysterious giant Hα blob that is ∼8 kpc away from the main MaNGA target 1-24145, one component of a dry galaxy merger, and has been identified in the first-year SDSS-IV MaNGA data. The size of the Hα blob is ∼3–4 kpc in radius, and the Hα distribution is centrally concentrated. However, there is no optical continuum counterpart in the deep broadband images reaching ∼26.9 mag arcsec‑2 in surface brightness. We estimate that the masses of the ionized and cold gases are 3.3× {10}5 {M}ȯ and < 1.3× {10}9 {M}ȯ , respectively. The emission-line ratios indicate that the Hα blob is photoionized by a combination of massive young stars and AGNs. Furthermore, the ionization line ratio decreases from MaNGA 1-24145 to the Hα blob, suggesting that the primary ionizing source may come from MaNGA 1-24145, likely a low-activity AGN. Possible explanations for this Hα blob include the AGN outflow, the gas remnant being tidally or ram-pressure stripped from MaNGA 1-24145, or an extremely low surface brightness galaxy. However, the stripping scenario is less favored according to galaxy merger simulations and the morphology of the Hα blob. With the current data, we cannot distinguish whether this Hα blob is ejected gas due to a past AGN outburst, or a special category of “ultra-diffuse galaxy” interacting with MaNGA 1-24145 that further induces the gas inflow to fuel the AGN in MaNGA 1-24145.

We present a resolved dust analysis of three of the largest angular size spiral galaxies, NGC 4501 and NGC 4567/8, in the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS) science demonstration field. Herschel has unprecedented spatial resolution at far-infrared wavelengths and with the PACS and SPIRE instruments samples both sides of the peak in the far infrared spectral energy distribution (SED). We present maps of dust temperature, dust mass, and gas-to-dust ratio, produced by fitting modified black bodies to the SED for each pixel. We find that the distribution of dust temperature in both systems is in the range ~19-22 K and peaks away from the centres of the galaxies. The distribution of dust mass in both systems is symmetrical and exhibits a single peak coincident with the galaxy centres. This Letter provides a first insight into the future analysis possible with a large sample of resolved galaxies to be observed by Herschel. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.

As the fourth part in a series of papers on galaxies in the "zone of avoidance" (ZOA) of the Milky Way we present a compilation of 1067 galaxies discovered during a systematic search on Palomar Observatory Sky Survey I (POSSI) red-sensitive prints. The region searched comprises 500 square degrees, at 130°<=l<=180°, -5°<=b<=+5°. In addition to galactic and equatorial coordinates, we list maximum and minimum optical diameters derived from both the red- and blue-sensitive prints and made cross checks with the IRAS PSC catalogue. An asymmetric distribution of the galaxies with respect to the galactic equator is found and is compared to the locations of optically visible dust clouds and/or the distribution of IR-emitting dust material. There is a pronounced bridge of galaxies across the galactic plane at l=~160° which will be discussed according to recent results on the extension of the Pisces-Perseus supercluster. (1 data file).

We present a spectroscopic survey of 21 young massive clusters and complexes and one tidal dwarf galaxy (TDG) candidate in Stephan's Quintet, an interacting compact group of galaxies. All of the selected targets lie outside the main galaxies of the system and are associated with tidal debris. We find clusters with ages between a few and 125 Myr and confirm the ages estimated through Hubble Space Telescope photometry by Fedotov et al., as well as their modeled interaction history of the Quintet. Many of the clusters are found to be relatively long-lived, given their spectrosopically derived ages, while their high masses suggest that they will likely evolve to eventually become intergalactic clusters. One cluster, T118, is particularly interesting, given its age ({approx}125 Myr), high mass ({approx}2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 6} M{sub Sun }), and position in the extreme outer end of the young tidal tail. This cluster appears to be quite extended (R{sub eff} {approx} 12-15 pc) compared to clusters observed in galaxy disks (R{sub eff} {approx} 3-4 pc), which confirms an effect we previously found in the tidal tails of NGC 3256, where clusters are similarly extended. We find that star and cluster formation can proceed at a continuous pace for at least {approx}150 Myr within the tidal debris of interacting galaxies. The spectrum of the TDG candidate is dominated by a young population ({approx}7 Myr), and, assuming a single age for the entire region, has a mass of at least 10{sup 6} M{sub Sun }.

This work uses the multi-band optical images of nearby ellipticals from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey (CGS; Ho et al. 2011, J/ApJS/197/21, Paper I). The observations were made using the 100 inch du Pont telescope at Las Campanas Observatory to provide high-quality Johnson/Kron-Cousins BVRI images during the period 2003 February to 2006 June. (1 data file).

We present the Kormendy and mass-size relations (MSR) for early-type galaxies (ETGs) as a function of environment at z {approx} 1.3. Our sample includes 76 visually classified ETGs with masses 10{sup 10} < M/M{sub Sun} < 10{sup 11.5}, selected in the Lynx supercluster and in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey/Chandra Deep Field South field; 31 ETGs in clusters, 18 in groups, and 27 in the field, all with multi-wavelength photometry and Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys observations. The Kormendy relation, in place at z {approx} 1.3, does not depend on the environment. The MSR reveals that ETGs overall appear to be more compact in denser environments: cluster ETGs have sizes on average around 30%-50% smaller than those of the local universe and a distribution with a smaller scatter, whereas field ETGs show an MSR with a similar distribution to the local one. Our results imply that (1) the MSR in the field did not evolve overall from z {approx} 1.3 to present; this is interesting and in contrast to the trend found at higher masses from previous works; (2) in denser environments, either ETGs have increased in size by 30%-50% on average and spread their distributions, or more ETGs have been formed within the dense environment from non-ETG progenitors, or larger galaxies have been accreted to a pristine compact population to reproduce the MSR observed in the local universe. Our results are driven by galaxies with masses M {approx}< 2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun} and those with masses M {approx} 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun} follow the same trends as that of the entire sample. Following the Valentinuzzi et al. definition of superdense ETGs, {approx}35%-45% of our cluster sample is made up of superdense ETGs.

Building on the initial results of the nIFTy simulated galaxy cluster comparison, we compare and contrast the impact of baryonic physics with a single massive galaxy cluster, run with 11 state-of-the-art codes, spanning adaptive mesh, moving mesh, classic and modern smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approaches. For each code represented we have a dark-matter-only (DM) and non-radiative (NR) version of the cluster, as well as a full physics (FP) version for a subset of the codes. We compare both radial mass and kinematic profiles, as well as global measures of the cluster (e.g. concentration, spin, shape), in the NR and FP runs with that in the DM runs. Our analysis reveals good consistency ⪅20 per cent) between global properties of the cluster predicted by different codes when integrated quantities are measured within the virial radius R200. However, we see larger differences for quantities within R2500, especially in the FP runs. The radial profiles reveal a diversity, especially in the cluster centre, between the NR runs, which can be understood straightforwardly from the division of codes into classic SPH and non-classic SPH (including the modern SPH, adaptive and moving mesh codes); and between the FP runs, which can also be understood broadly from the division of codes into those that include active galactic nucleus feedback and those that do not. The variation with respect to the median is much larger in the FP runs with different baryonic physics prescriptions than in the NR runs with different hydrodynamics solvers.

SPIDERS (The SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources) is a programme dedicated to the homogeneous and complete spectroscopic follow-up of X-ray active galactic nuclei and galaxy clusters over a large area (˜7500 deg2) of the extragalactic sky. SPIDERS is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV project, together with the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and the Time-Domain Spectroscopic Survey. This paper describes the largest project within SPIDERS before the launch of eROSITA: an optical spectroscopic survey of X-ray-selected, massive (˜1014-1015 M⊙) galaxy clusters discovered in ROSAT and XMM-Newton imaging. The immediate aim is to determine precise (Δz ˜ 0.001) redshifts for 4000-5000 of these systems out to z ˜ 0.6. The scientific goal of the program is precision cosmology, using clusters as probes of large-scale structure in the expanding Universe. We present the cluster samples, target selection algorithms and observation strategies. We demonstrate the efficiency of selecting targets using a combination of SDSS imaging data, a robust red-sequence finder and a dedicated prioritization scheme. We describe a set of algorithms and work-flow developed to collate spectra and assign cluster membership, and to deliver catalogues of spectroscopically confirmed clusters. We discuss the relevance of line-of-sight velocity dispersion estimators for the richer systems. We illustrate our techniques by constructing a catalogue of 230 spectroscopically validated clusters (0.031 < z < 0.658), found in pilot observations. We discuss two potential science applications of the SPIDERS sample: the study of the X-ray luminosity-velocity dispersion (LX-σ) relation and the building of stacked phase-space diagrams.

Studies of QSO absorber-galaxy connections are often hindered by inadequate information on whether faint/dwarf galaxies are located near the QSO sight lines. To investigate the contribution of faint galaxies to QSO absorber populations, we are conducting a deep galaxy redshift survey near low-z C IV absorbers. Here we report a blindly detected C IV absorption system (z {sub abs} = 0.00348) in the spectrum of PG1148+549 that appears to be associated either with an edge-on dwarf galaxy with an obvious disk (UGC 6894, z {sub gal} = 0.00283) at an impact parameter of ρ = 190 kpc or with a very faint dwarf irregular galaxy at ρ = 23 kpc, which is closer to the sightline but has a larger redshift difference (z {sub gal} = 0.00107, i.e., δv = 724 km s{sup –1}). We consider various gas/galaxy associations, including infall and outflows. Based on current theoretical models, we conclude that the absorber is most likely tracing (1) the remnants of an outflow from a previous epoch, a so-called {sup a}ncient outflow{sup ,} or (2) intergalactic gas accreting onto UGC 6894, ''cold mode'' accretion. The latter scenario is supported by H I synthesis imaging data that shows the rotation curve of the disk being codirectional with the velocity offset between UGC 6894 and the absorber, which is located almost directly along the major axis of the edge-on disk.

This is the fourth in a series of papers studying the astrophysics and cosmology of massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters. Here, we use measurements of weak gravitational lensing from the Weighing the Giants project to calibrate Chandra X-ray measurements of total mass that rely on the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. This comparison of X-ray and lensing masses measures the combined bias of X-ray hydrostatic masses from both astrophysical and instrumental sources. While we cannot disentangle the two sources of bias, only the combined bias is relevant for calibrating cosmological measurements using relaxed clusters. Assuming a fixed cosmology, and within a characteristic radius (r2500) determined from the X-ray data, we measure a lensing to X-ray mass ratio of 0.96 ± 9 per cent (stat) ± 9 per cent (sys). We find no significant trends of this ratio with mass, redshift or the morphological indicators used to select the sample. Our results imply that any departures from hydrostatic equilibrium at these radii are offset by calibration errors of comparable magnitude, with large departures of tens-of-percent unlikely. In addition, we find a mean concentration of the sample measured from lensing data of c_{200} = 3.0_{-1.8}^{+4.4}. Anticipated short-term improvements in lensing systematics, and a modest expansion of the relaxed lensing sample, can easily increase the measurement precision by 30-50 per cent, leading to similar improvements in cosmological constraints that employ X-ray hydrostatic mass estimates, such as on Ωm from the cluster gas mass fraction.

This is the fourth in a series of papers studying the astrophysics and cosmology of massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters. Here, we use measurements of weak gravitational lensing from the Weighing the Giants project to calibrate Chandra X-ray measurements of total mass that rely on the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. This comparison of X-ray and lensing masses measures the combined bias of X-ray hydrostatic masses from both astrophysical and instrumental sources. While we cannot disentangle the two sources of bias, only the combined bias is relevant for calibrating cosmological measurements using relaxed clusters. Assuming a fixed cosmology, and within a characteristic radius (r2500) determined from the X-ray data, we measure a lensing to X-ray mass ratio of 0.96 ± 9% (stat) ± 9% (sys). We find no significant trends of this ratio with mass, redshift or the morphological indicators used to select the sample. Our results imply that any departures from hydrostatic equilibrium at these radii are offset by calibration errors of comparable magnitude, with large departures of tens-of-percent unlikely. In addition, we find a mean concentration of the sample measured from lensing data of c200 = 3.0+4.4–1.8. In conclusion, anticipated short-term improvements in lensing systematics, and a modest expansion of the relaxed lensing sample, can easily increase the measurement precision by 30–50%, leading to similar improvements in cosmological constraints that employ X-ray hydrostatic mass estimates, such as on Ωm from the cluster gas mass fraction.

This is the fourth in a series of papers studying the astrophysics and cosmology of massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters. Here, we use measurements of weak gravitational lensing from the Weighing the Giants project to calibrate Chandra X-ray measurements of total mass that rely on the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. This comparison of X-ray and lensing masses measures the combined bias of X-ray hydrostatic masses from both astrophysical and instrumental sources. While we cannot disentangle the two sources of bias, only the combined bias is relevant for calibrating cosmological measurements using relaxed clusters. Assuming a fixed cosmology, and within amore » characteristic radius (r2500) determined from the X-ray data, we measure a lensing to X-ray mass ratio of 0.96 ± 9% (stat) ± 9% (sys). We find no significant trends of this ratio with mass, redshift or the morphological indicators used to select the sample. Our results imply that any departures from hydrostatic equilibrium at these radii are offset by calibration errors of comparable magnitude, with large departures of tens-of-percent unlikely. In addition, we find a mean concentration of the sample measured from lensing data of c200 = 3.0+4.4–1.8. In conclusion, anticipated short-term improvements in lensing systematics, and a modest expansion of the relaxed lensing sample, can easily increase the measurement precision by 30–50%, leading to similar improvements in cosmological constraints that employ X-ray hydrostatic mass estimates, such as on Ωm from the cluster gas mass fraction.« less

We take deep images of four ultra faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, Canes Venatici I (CVn I), Booetes I (Booe I), Canes Venatici II (CVn II), and Leo IV, using the Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. Color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) extend below main-sequence turnoffs (MSTOs) and yield measurements of the ages of stellar populations. The stellar populations of three faint galaxies, the Booe I, CVn II, and Leo IV dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs), are estimated to be as old as the Galactic globular cluster M92. We confirm that Booe I dSph has no intrinsic color spread in the MSTO and no spatial difference in the CMD morphology, which indicates that Booe I dSph is composed of an old single stellar population. One of the brightest UFDs, CVn I dSph, shows a relatively younger age ({approx}12.6 Gyr) with respect to Booe I, CVn II, and Leo IV dSphs, and the distribution of red horizontal branch (HB) stars is more concentrated toward the center than that of blue HB stars, suggesting that the galaxy contains complex stellar populations. Booe I and CVn I dSphs show the elongated and distorted shapes. CVn II dSph has the smallest tidal radius of a Milky Way satellite and has a distorted shape, while Leo IV dSph shows a less concentrated spherical shape. The simple stellar population of faint UFDs indicates that the gases in their progenitors were removed more effectively than those of brighter dSphs at the occurrence of their initial star formation. This is reasonable if the progenitors of UFDs belong to less massive halos than those of brighter dSphs.

We present optical and near-infrared archival observations of eight edge-on galaxies. These observations are used to model the stellar content of each galaxy using the FITSKIRT software package. Using FITSKIRT, we can self-consistently model a galaxy in each band simultaneously while treating for dust. This allows us to measure accurately both the scalelength and scaleheight of the stellar disc, plus the shape parameters of the bulge. By combining these data with the previously reported integrated magnitudes of each galaxy, we can infer their true luminosities. We have successfully modelled seven out of the eight galaxies in our sample. We find that stellar discs can be modelled correctly, but we have not been able to model the stellar bulge reliably. Our sample consists for the most part of slowly rotating galaxies and we find that the average dust layer is much thicker than is reported for faster rotating galaxies.

Using kinematic maps from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey, we reveal that the majority of low-mass quenched galaxies exhibit coherent rotation in their stellar kinematics. Our sample includes all 39 quenched low-mass galaxies observed in the first year of MaNGA. The galaxies are selected with Mr > -19.1, stellar masses 109 M⊙ < M* < 5 × 109 M⊙, EWHα < 2 Å, and all have red colours (u - r) > 1.9. They lie on the size-magnitude and σ-luminosity relations for previously studied dwarf galaxies. Just six (15 ± 5.7 per cent) are found to have rotation speeds ve, rot < 15 km s-1 at ˜1 Re, and may be dominated by pressure support at all radii. Two galaxies in our sample have kinematically distinct cores in their stellar component, likely the result of accretion. Six contain ionized gas despite not hosting ongoing star formation, and this gas is typically kinematically misaligned from their stellar component. This is the first large-scale Integral Field Unit (IFU) study of low-mass galaxies selected without bias against low-density environments. Nevertheless, we find the majority of these galaxies are within ˜1.5 Mpc of a bright neighbour (MK < -23; or M* > 5 × 1010 M⊙), supporting the hypothesis that galaxy-galaxy or galaxy-group interactions quench star formation in low-mass galaxies. The local bright galaxy density for our sample is ρproj = 8.2 ± 2.0 Mpc-2, compared to ρproj = 2.1 ± 0.4 Mpc-2 for a star-forming comparison sample, confirming that the quenched low-mass galaxies are preferentially found in higher density environments.

We have conducted a study of extra-planar diffuse ionized gas using the first year data from the MaNGA IFU survey. We have stacked spectra from 49 edge-on, late-type galaxies as a function of distance from the midplane of the galaxy. With this technique we can detect the bright emission lines Hα, Hβ, [O ii]λλ3726, 3729, [O iii]λ5007, [N ii]λλ6549, 6584, and [S ii]λλ6717, 6731 out to about 4 kpc above the midplane. With 16 galaxies we can extend this analysis out to about 9 kpc, i.e. a distance of 2Re, vertically from the midplane. In the halo, the surface brightnesses of the [O ii] and Hα emission lines are comparable, unlike in the disk where Hα dominates. When we split the sample by specific star-formation rate, concentration index, and stellar mass, each subsample's emission line surface brightness profiles and ratios differ, indicating that extra-planar gas properties can vary. The emission line surface brightnesses of the gas around high specific star-formation rate galaxies are higher at all distances, and the line ratios are closer to ratios characteristic of H ii regions compared with low specific star-formation rate galaxies. The less concentrated and lower stellar mass samples exhibit line ratios that are more like H ii regions at larger distances than their more concentrated and higher stellar mass counterparts. The largest difference between different subsamples occurs when the galaxies are split by stellar mass. We additionally infer that gas far from the midplane in more massive galaxies has the highest temperatures and steepest radial temperature gradients based on their [N ii]/Hα and [O ii]/Hα ratios between the disk and the halo. SDSS IV.

We perform Jeans anisotropic modeling (JAM) on elliptical and spiral galaxies from the MaNGA DR13 sample. By comparing the stellar mass-to-light ratios estimated from stellar population synthesis and from JAM, we find a systematic variation of the initial mass function (IMF) similar to that in the earlier {{ATLAS}}3{{D}} results. Early-type galaxies (elliptical and lenticular) with lower velocity dispersions within one effective radius are consistent with a Chabrier-like IMF, while galaxies with higher velocity dispersions are consistent with a more bottom-heavy IMF such as the Salpeter IMF. Spiral galaxies have similar systematic IMF variations, but with slightly different slopes and larger scatters, due to the uncertainties caused by the higher gas fractions and extinctions for these galaxies. Furthermore, we examine the effects of stellar mass-to-light ratio gradients on our JAM modeling, and we find that the trends become stronger after considering the gradients.

We present resolved stellar photometry of NGC 2976 obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) as part of the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST) program. The data cover the radial extent of the major axis of the disk out to 6 kpc, or ~6 scale lengths. The outer disk was imaged to a depth of M F606W ~ 1, and an inner field was imaged to the crowding limit at a depth of M F606W ~ -1. Through detailed analysis and modeling of the resulting color-magnitude diagrams, we have reconstructed the star formation history (SFH) of the stellar populations currently residing in these portions of the galaxy, finding similar ancient populations at all radii but significantly different young populations at increasing radii. In particular, outside of the well-measured break in the disk surface brightness profile, the age of the youngest population increases with distance from the galaxy center, suggesting that star formation is shutting down from the outside-in. We use our measured SFH, along with H I surface density measurements, to reconstruct the surface density profile of the disk during previous epochs. Comparisons between the recovered star formation rates and reconstructed gas densities at previous epochs are consistent with star formation following the Schmidt law during the past 0.5 Gyr, but with a drop in star formation efficiency at low gas densities, as seen in local galaxies at the present day. The current rate and gas density suggest that rapid star formation in NGC 2976 is currently in the process of ceasing from the outside-in due to gas depletion. This process of outer disk gas depletion and inner disk star formation was likely triggered by an interaction with the core of the M81 group gsim1 Gyr ago that stripped the gas from the galaxy halo and/or triggered gas inflow from the outer disk toward the galaxy center.

Galaxy evolution is regulated by the interplay between galactic discs and their surrounding medium. We study this interplay by examining how the galactic coronal emission efficiency of stellar feedback depends on the (surface and specific) star formation rates (SFRs) and other parameters for a sample of 52 Chandra-observed nearby highly inclined disc galaxies. We first measure the star-forming galactic disc sizes, as well as the SFRs of these galaxies, using data from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, and then show that (1) the specific 0.5-2 keV luminosity of the coronal emission correlates with the specific SFR in a sub-linear fashion: on average, LX/LK∝(SFR/M*)Γ with Γ = 0.29 ± 0.12; (2) the efficiency of the emission LX/SFR decreases with increasing surface SFR (ISFR; Γ = -0.44 ± 0.12); and (3) the characteristic temperature of the X-ray-emitting plasma weakly correlates with ISFR (Γ = 0.08 ± 0.04). These results, somewhat surprising and anti-intuitive, suggest that (i) the linear correlation between LX and SFR, as commonly presented, is largely due to the correlation of these two parameters with galaxy mass; (ii) much of the mechanical energy from stellar feedback likely drives global outflows with little X-ray cooling and with a mass-loading efficiency decreasing fast with increasing ISFR (Γ ≲ -0.5); (iii) these outflows heat and inflate the medium around the galactic disks of massive galaxies, reducing its radiative cooling rate, whereas for relatively low-mass galaxies, the energy in the outflows is probably dissipated in regions far away from the galactic discs.

We present resolved stellar photometry of NGC 2976 obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) as part of the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST) program. The data cover the radial extent of the major axis of the disk out to 6 kpc, or approx6 scale lengths. The outer disk was imaged to a depth of M{sub F606W} approx 1, and an inner field was imaged to the crowding limit at a depth of M{sub F606W} approx -1. Through detailed analysis and modeling of the resulting color-magnitude diagrams, we have reconstructed the star formation history (SFH) of the stellar populations currently residing in these portions of the galaxy, finding similar ancient populations at all radii but significantly different young populations at increasing radii. In particular, outside of the well-measured break in the disk surface brightness profile, the age of the youngest population increases with distance from the galaxy center, suggesting that star formation is shutting down from the outside-in. We use our measured SFH, along with H I surface density measurements, to reconstruct the surface density profile of the disk during previous epochs. Comparisons between the recovered star formation rates and reconstructed gas densities at previous epochs are consistent with star formation following the Schmidt law during the past 0.5 Gyr, but with a drop in star formation efficiency at low gas densities, as seen in local galaxies at the present day. The current rate and gas density suggest that rapid star formation in NGC 2976 is currently in the process of ceasing from the outside-in due to gas depletion. This process of outer disk gas depletion and inner disk star formation was likely triggered by an interaction with the core of the M81 group approx>1 Gyr ago that stripped the gas from the galaxy halo and/or triggered gas inflow from the outer disk toward the galaxy center.

We investigate the luminosity-dependent clustering of rest-frame UV-selected galaxies at z {approx} 4, 3, 2.2, and 1.7 in the Keck Deep Fields, which are complete to R = 27 and cover 169 arcmin{sup 2}. We find that at z {approx} 4 and 3, UV-bright galaxies cluster more strongly than UV-faint ones, but at z {approx} 2.2 and 1.7, the UV-bright galaxies are no longer the most strongly clustered. We derive mass estimates for objects in our sample by comparing our measurements to the predicted clustering of dark matter halos in the Millennium Simulation. From these estimates, we infer relationships between halo mass and star formation rate (SFR), and find that the most massive dark matter halos in our sample host galaxies with high SFRs (M{sub 1700} < -20, or >50 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}) at z {approx} 3 and 4, moderate SFRs (-20 < M{sub 1700} < -19, or {approx}20 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}) at z {approx} 2.2, and lower SFRs (-19 < M{sub 1700} < -18, or {approx}2 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}) at z {approx} 1.7. We believe our measurements may provide a new line of evidence for galaxy downsizing by extending that concept from stellar to halo mass. We also find that the objects with blue UV colors in our sample are much more strongly clustered than those with red UV colors, and we propose that this may be due to the presence of the 2175 A dust absorption bump in more massive halos, which contain the older stellar populations and dust needed to produce the feature. The relatively small area covered by the survey means that the absolute values of the correlation lengths and halo masses we derive are heavily dependent on the 'integral constraint' correction, but the uniformly deep coverage across a large-redshift interval allows us to detect several important trends that are independent of this correction.

We present a study on the stellar age and metallicity distributions for 1105 galaxies using the STARLIGHT software on MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) integral field spectra. We derive age and metallicity gradients by fitting straight lines to the radial profiles, and explore their correlations with total stellar mass M*, NUV - r colour and environments, as identified by both the large-scale structure (LSS) type and the local density. We find that the mean age and metallicity gradients are close to zero but slightly negative, which is consistent with the inside-out formation scenario. Within our sample, we find that both the age and metallicity gradients show weak or no correlation with either the LSS type or local density environment. In addition, we also study the environmental dependence of age and metallicity values at the effective radii. The age and metallicity values are highly correlated with M* and NUV - r and are also dependent on LSS type as well as local density. Low-mass galaxies tend to be younger and have lower metallicity in low-density environments while high-mass galaxies are less affected by environment.

Leo P is a low-luminosity dwarf galaxy discovered through the blind H I Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey. The H I and follow-up optical observations have shown that Leo P is a gas-rich dwarf galaxy with both active star formation and an underlying older population, as well as an extremely low oxygen abundance. Here, we measure the distance to Leo P by applying the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) distance method to photometry of the resolved stellar population from new Large Binocular Telescope V and I band imaging. We measure a distance modulus of 26.19{sub −0.50}{sup +0.17} mag corresponding to a distance of 1.72{sub −0.40}{sup +0.14} Mpc. Although our photometry reaches 3 mag below the TRGB, the sparseness of the red giant branch yields higher uncertainties on the lower limit of the distance. Leo P is outside the Local Group with a distance and velocity consistent with the local Hubble flow. While located in a very low-density environment, Leo P lies within ∼0.5 Mpc of a loose association of dwarf galaxies which include NGC 3109, Antlia, Sextans A, and Sextans B, and 1.1 Mpc away from its next nearest neighbor, Leo A. Leo P is one of the lowest metallicity star-forming galaxies known in the nearby universe, comparable in metallicity to I Zw 18 and DDO 68, but with stellar characteristics similar to dwarf spheriodals (dSphs) in the Local Volume such as Carina, Sextans, and Leo II. Given its physical properties and isolation, Leo P may provide an evolutionary link between gas-rich dwarf irregular galaxies and dSphs that have fallen into a Local Group environment and been stripped of their gas.

We present an analysis of stellar population gradients in 4546 early-type galaxies (ETGs) with photometry in grizYHJK along with optical spectroscopy. ETGs were selected as bulge-dominated systems, displaying passive spectra within the SDSS fibers. A new approach is described which utilizes color information to constrain age and metallicity gradients. Defining an effective color gradient, {nabla}{sub *}, which incorporates all of the available color indices, we investigate how {nabla}{sub *} varies with galaxy mass proxies, i.e., velocity dispersion, stellar (M{sub *}) and dynamical (M{sub dyn}) masses, as well as age, metallicity, and [{alpha}/Fe]. ETGs with M{sub dyn} larger than 8.5 x 10{sup 10} M{sub sun} have increasing age gradients and decreasing metallicity gradients with respect to mass, metallicity, and enhancement. We find that velocity dispersion and [{alpha}/Fe] are the main drivers of these correlations. ETGs with 2.5 x 10{sup 10} M{sub sun} {<=} M{sub dyn} {<=} 8.5 x 10{sup 10} M{sub sun} show no correlation of age, metallicity, and color gradients with respect to mass, although color gradients still correlate with stellar population parameters, and these correlations are independent of each other. In both mass regimes, the striking anti-correlation between color gradient and {alpha}-enhancement is significant at {approx}5{sigma} and results from the fact that metallicity gradient decreases with [{alpha}/Fe]. This anti-correlation may reflect the fact that star formation and metallicity enrichment are regulated by the interplay between the energy input from supernovae, and the temperature and pressure of the hot X-ray gas in ETGs. For all mass ranges, positive age gradients are associated with old galaxies (>5-7 Gyr). For galaxies younger than {approx}5 Gyr, mostly at low mass, the age gradient tends to be anti-correlated with the Age parameter, with more positive gradients at younger ages.

Successful efforts to match interaction models to all of the available data for two pairs of interacting binary galaxies, Nos. 99 and 564 in the Karachentsev catalog of isolated pairs, are described. The results validate simple Newtonian gravity on the 10 kpc scale. The dynamical orbital status of both K99 and K564 is uniquely determined, and the masses and spatial orientations of the pairs are tightly constrained. Total masses for the pairs are derived which are quite reasonable and yield M/L values near 10. It is concluded that the observed disturbances in rotation velocity and luminosity distribution for these binary galaxies are entirely consistent with the merger hypothesis. Distortions including U-shaped rotation profiles and one-sided luminosity disturbances provide solid observational evidence of tidal friction in action. 18 references.

We simulate mergers between galaxies containing collisionally relaxed nuclei around massive black holes (MBHs). Our galaxies contain four mass groups, representative of old stellar populations; a primary goal is to understand the distribution of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) after the merger. Mergers are followed using direct-summation N-body simulations, assuming a mass ratio of 1:3 and two different orbits. Evolution of the binary MBH is followed until its separation has shrunk by a factor of 20 below the hard-binary separation. During the galaxy merger, large cores are carved out in the stellar distribution, with radii several times the influence radius of the massive binary. Much of the pre-existing mass segregation is erased during this phase. We follow the evolution of the merged galaxies for approximately three central relaxation times after coalescence of the massive binary; both standard and top-heavy mass functions are considered. The cores that were formed in the stellar distribution persist, and the distribution of the stellar-mass BHs evolves against this essentially fixed background. Even after one central relaxation time, these models look very different from the relaxed, multi-mass models that are often assumed to describe the distribution of stars and stellar remnants near a massive BH. While the stellar BHs do form a cusp on roughly a relaxation timescale, the BH density can be much smaller than in those models. We discuss the implications of our results for the extreme-mass-ratio inspiral problem and for the existence of Bahcall-Wolf cusps.

Context. Dust and stars play a complex game of interactions in the interstellar medium and around young stars. The imprints of these processes are visible in scaling relations between stellar characteristics, star formation parameters, and dust properties. Aims: In the present work, we aim to examine dust scaling relations on a sub-kpc resolution in the Andromeda galaxy (M 31). The goal is to investigate the properties of M 31 on both a global and local scale and compare them to other galaxies of the local universe. Methods: New Herschel observations are combined with available data from GALEX, SDSS, WISE, and Spitzer to construct a dataset covering UV to submm wavelengths. All images were brought to the beam size and pixel grid of the SPIRE 500 μm frame. This divides M 31 in 22 437 pixels of 36 arcseconds in size on the sky, corresponding to physical regions of 137 × 608 pc in the galaxy's disk. A panchromatic spectral energy distribution was modelled for each pixel and maps of the physical quantities were constructed. Several scaling relations were investigated, focussing on the interactions of dust with starlight. Results: We find, on a sub-kpc scale, strong correlations between Mdust/M⋆ and NUV-r, and between Mdust/M⋆ and μ⋆ (the stellar mass surface density). Striking similarities with corresponding relations based on integrated galaxies are found. We decompose M 31 in four macro-regions based on their far-infrared morphology; the bulge, inner disk, star forming ring, and the outer disk region. In the scaling relations, all regions closely follow the galaxy-scale average trends and behave like galaxies of different morphological types. The specific star formation characteristics we derive for these macro-regions give strong hints of an inside-out formation of the bulge-disk geometry, as well as an internal downsizing process. Within each macro-region, however, a great diversity in individual micro-regions is found, regardless of the properties of the

We combine data from the Australia Telescope National Facility and Swedish ESO Submillimeter Telescope to investigate the neutral interstellar medium (ISM) in AM0644-741, a large and robustly star-forming ring galaxy. The galaxy's ISM is concentrated in the 42 kpc diameter starburst ring, but appears dominated by atomic gas, with a global molecular fraction (f{sub mol}) of only 0.062 {+-} 0.005. Apart from the starburst peak, the gas ring appears stable against the growth of gravitational instabilities (Q{sub gas} = 3-11). Including the stellar component lowers Q overall, but not enough to make Q < 1 everywhere. High star formation efficiencies (SFEs) follow from the ring's low H{sub 2} content. AM0644-741's star formation law is highly peculiar: H I obeys a Schmidt law while H{sub 2} is uncorrelated with star formation rate density. Photodissociation models yield low volume densities in the ring, especially in the starburst quadrant (n {approx} 2 cm{sup -3}), implying a warm neutral medium dominated ISM. At the same time, the ring's pressure and ambient far-ultraviolet radiation field lead to the expectation of a predominantly molecular ISM. We argue that the ring's high SFE, low f{sub mol} and n, and peculiar star formation law follow from the ISM's {approx}> 100 Myr confinement time in the starburst ring, which amplifies the destructive effects of embedded massive stars and supernovae. As a result, the ring's molecular ISM becomes dominated by small clouds, causing M{sub H{sub 2}} to be significantly underestimated by {sup 12}CO line fluxes: in effect, X{sub CO} >> X{sub Gal} despite the ring's {>=}solar metallicity. The observed H I is primarily a low-density photodissociation product, i.e., a tracer rather than a precursor of massive star formation. Such an 'over-cooked' ISM may be a general characteristic of evolved starburst ring galaxies.

We report the detection and analysis of the red giant branch (RGB) luminosity function bump in a sample of isolated dwarf galaxies in the Local Group. We have designed a new analysis approach comparing the observed color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) with theoretical best-fit CMDs derived from precise estimates of the star formation histories of each galaxy. This analysis is based on studying the difference between the V magnitude of the RGB bump and the horizontal branch at the level of the RR Lyrae instability strip ({Delta}V {sup bump}{sub HB}) and we discuss here a technique for reliably measuring this quantity in complex stellar systems. By using this approach, we find that the difference between the observed and predicted values of {Delta}V {sup bump}{sub HB} is +0.13 {+-} 0.14 mag. This is smaller, by about a factor of 2, than the well-known discrepancy between theory and observation at low metallicity commonly derived for Galactic globular clusters (GCs). This result is confirmed by a comparison between the adopted theoretical framework and empirical estimates of the {Delta}V {sup bump}{sub HB} parameter for both a large database of Galactic GCs and for four other dwarf spheroidal galaxies for which this estimate is available in the literature. We also investigate the strength of the RGB bump feature (R{sub bump}), and find very good agreement between the observed and theoretically predicted R{sub bump} values. This agreement supports the reliability of the evolutionary lifetimes predicted by theoretical models of the evolution of low-mass stars.

The evolution of the two-point correlation function for the large-scale distribution of galaxies in an expanding universe is studied on the assumption that the perturbation densities lie in a Gaussian distribution centered on any given mass scale. The perturbations are evolved according to the Friedmann equation, and the correlation function for the resulting distribution of perturbations at the present epoch is calculated. It is found that: (1) the computed correlation function gives a satisfactory fit to the observed function in cosmological models with a density parameter (Omega) of approximately unity, provided that a certain free parameter is suitably adjusted; (2) the power-law slope in the nonlinear regime reflects the initial fluctuation spectrum, provided that the density profile of individual perturbations declines more rapidly than the -2.4 power of distance; and (3) both positive and negative contributions to the correlation function are predicted for cosmological models with Omega less than unity.

We present high-resolution (~2.''5) observations of 12CO J = 6-5 toward the luminous infrared galaxy VV 114 using the Submillimeter Array. We detect 12CO J = 6-5 emission from the eastern nucleus of VV 114 but do not detect the western nucleus or the central region. We combine the new 12CO J = 6-5 observations with previously published or archival low-J CO observations, which include 13CO J = 1-0 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array cycle 0 observations, to analyze the beam-averaged physical conditions of the molecular gas in the eastern nucleus. We use the radiative transfer code RADEX and a Bayesian likelihood code to constrain the temperature (T kin), density (n_{H_{2}}), and column density (N_{^{12CO}}) of the molecular gas. We find that the most probable scenario for the eastern nucleus is a cold (T kin = 38 K), moderately dense (n_{H_{2}} = 102.89 cm-3) molecular gas component. We find that the most probable 12CO to 13CO abundance ratio ([12CO]/[13CO]) is 229, which is roughly three times higher than the Milky Way value. This high abundance ratio may explain the observed high 12CO/ 13CO line ratio (>25). The unusual 13CO J = 2-1/J = 1-0 line ratio of 0.6 is produced by a combination of moderate 13CO optical depths (τ = 0.4-1.1) and extremely subthermal excitation temperatures. We measure the CO-to-H2 conversion factor, αCO, to be 0.5^{+0.6}_{-0.3} M ⊙ (K km s-1 pc2)-1, which agrees with the widely used factor for ultra luminous infrared galaxies of Downes & Solomon (αCO = 0.8 M ⊙ (K km s-1 pc2)-1).

The Kepler space telescope has opened new vistas in exoplanet discovery space by revealing populations of Earth-sized planets that provide a new context for understanding planet formation. Approximately 70% of all stars in the Galaxy belong to the diminutive M dwarf class, several thousand of which lie within Kepler's field of view, and a large number of these targets show planet transit signals. The Kepler M dwarf sample has a characteristic mass of 0.5 M {sub Sun} representing a stellar population twice as common as Sun-like stars. Kepler-32 is a typical star in this sample that presents us with a rare opportunity: five planets transit this star, giving us an expansive view of its architecture. All five planets of this compact system orbit their host star within a distance one-third the size of Mercury's orbit, with the innermost planet positioned a mere 4.3 stellar radii from the stellar photosphere. New observations limit possible false positive scenarios, allowing us to validate the entire Kepler-32 system making it the richest known system of transiting planets around an M dwarf. Based on considerations of the stellar dust sublimation radius, a minimum mass protoplanetary nebula, and the near period commensurability of three adjacent planets, we propose that the Kepler-32 planets formed at larger orbital radii and migrated inward to their present locations. The volatile content inferred for the Kepler-32 planets and order of magnitude estimates for the disk migration rates suggest that these planets may have formed beyond the snow line and migrated in the presence of a gaseous disk. If true, then this would place an upper limit on their formation time of {approx}10 Myr. The Kepler-32 planets are representative of the full ensemble of planet candidates orbiting the Kepler M dwarfs for which we calculate an occurrence rate of 1.0 {+-} 0.1 planet per star. The formation of the Kepler-32 planets therefore offers a plausible blueprint for the formation of one of

The Kepler space telescope has opened new vistas in exoplanet discovery space by revealing populations of Earth-sized planets that provide a new context for understanding planet formation. Approximately 70% of all stars in the Galaxy belong to the diminutive M dwarf class, several thousand of which lie within Kepler's field of view, and a large number of these targets show planet transit signals. The Kepler M dwarf sample has a characteristic mass of 0.5 M ⊙ representing a stellar population twice as common as Sun-like stars. Kepler-32 is a typical star in this sample that presents us with a rare opportunity: five planets transit this star, giving us an expansive view of its architecture. All five planets of this compact system orbit their host star within a distance one-third the size of Mercury's orbit, with the innermost planet positioned a mere 4.3 stellar radii from the stellar photosphere. New observations limit possible false positive scenarios, allowing us to validate the entire Kepler-32 system making it the richest known system of transiting planets around an M dwarf. Based on considerations of the stellar dust sublimation radius, a minimum mass protoplanetary nebula, and the near period commensurability of three adjacent planets, we propose that the Kepler-32 planets formed at larger orbital radii and migrated inward to their present locations. The volatile content inferred for the Kepler-32 planets and order of magnitude estimates for the disk migration rates suggest that these planets may have formed beyond the snow line and migrated in the presence of a gaseous disk. If true, then this would place an upper limit on their formation time of ~10 Myr. The Kepler-32 planets are representative of the full ensemble of planet candidates orbiting the Kepler M dwarfs for which we calculate an occurrence rate of 1.0 ± 0.1 planet per star. The formation of the Kepler-32 planets therefore offers a plausible blueprint for the formation of one of the largest

We derive the star formation histories of eight dwarf spheroidal (dSph) Milky Way satellite galaxies from their alpha element abundance patterns. Nearly 3000 stars from our previously published catalog comprise our data set. The average [{alpha}/Fe] ratios for all dSphs follow roughly the same path with increasing [Fe/H]. We do not observe the predicted knees in the [{alpha}/Fe] versus [Fe/H] diagram, corresponding to the metallicity at which Type Ia supernovae begin to explode. Instead, we find that Type Ia supernova ejecta contribute to the abundances of all but the most metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -2.5) stars. We have also developed a chemical evolution model that tracks the star formation rate, Types II and Ia supernova explosions, and supernova feedback. Without metal enhancement in the supernova blowout, massive amounts of gas loss define the history of all dSphs except Fornax, the most luminous in our sample. All six of the best-fit model parameters correlate with dSph luminosity but not with velocity dispersion, half-light radius, or Galactocentric distance.

Studies of the physical properties of local elliptical galaxies are shedding new light on galaxy formation. Here we present the hot-gas properties of 33 early-type systems within the MASSIVE galaxy survey that have archival Chandra X-ray observations, and we use these data to derive X-ray luminosities ({L}{{X,gas}}) and plasma temperatures ({T}{{gas}}) for the diffuse gas components. We combine this with the {{ATLAS}}{{3D}} survey to investigate the X-ray-optical properties of a statistically significant sample of early-type galaxies across a wide range of environments. When X-ray measurements are performed consistently in apertures set by the galaxy stellar content, we deduce that all early types (independent of galaxy mass, environment, and rotational support) follow a universal scaling law such that {L}{{X,gas}}\\propto {T}{{gas}}˜ 4.5. We further demonstrate that the scatter in {L}{{X,gas}} around both K-band luminosity (L K ) and the galaxy stellar velocity dispersion ({σ }e) is primarily driven by {T}{{gas}}, with no clear trends with halo mass, radio power, or angular momentum of the stars. It is not trivial to tie the gas origin directly to either stellar mass or galaxy potential. Indeed, our data require a steeper relation between {L}{{X,gas}},{L}K, and {σ }e than predicted by standard mass-loss models. Finally, we find that {T}{{gas}} is set by the galaxy potential inside the optical effective radius. We conclude that within the innermost 10-30 kpc region, early types maintain pressure-supported hot gas, with a minimum {T}{{gas}} set by the virial temperature, but the majority show evidence for additional heating.

A distance-limited subset of the complete flux-limited sample of Sc galaxies in the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog of Bright Galaxies is isolated by means of separate Spaenhauer diagrams for six individual van den Bergh luminosity class intervals from Sc I+I.2,.3 to Sc III-IV. The distribution functions of kinematic absolute B^0,i_T(220,50) magnitudes and 21 cm line widths, W_20, corrected to edge-on orientation, have been determined for the same six bins of luminosity class. The individual luminosity functions for each luminosity class are bounded on both the bright and faint ends, showing that the present sample includes no dwarf Sc spirals fainter than M(B_T)(220,50)=-18 belonging to luminosity classes I to III-IV, as defined by the regularity of the spiral pattern. Star-forming galaxies with spiral structures as regular as the ones found in these luminosity classes have absolute magnitudes brighter than M_B(H=50)=-18 and 21 cm line widths larger than W_20/sini=2v_rot(max)=165 km s^-1. Furthermore, the 21 cm line-width distributions move toward smaller rotational velocities as the luminosity classes change from I to III, showing that rotation is a principal parameter determining the regularity of the spiral pattern. Whether it is the only parameter awaits a similar investigation for spirals of all luminosity classes along the complete Hubble sequence. In particular, it has not yet been proved that all Im and Sm galaxies, where, by definition, the spiral arms are either lacking or are semichaotic, have absolute magnitudes that are fainter than M_B=-18 and whose 21 cm LWs are smaller than ~165 km s^-1, presumably because of smaller mass than the high-luminosity, regular spirals. The Teerikorpi ``cluster population incompleteness bias'' is demonstrated again. Here, however, as in Papers II-IV of this series, we use field galaxies to show that the slope and zero point of the Tully-Fisher (T-F) relation are systematically incorrect for flux-limited samples, the error

In the three-dimensional parameter space defined by velocity dispersion ({sigma}), effective radius (R{sub e}), and effective surface brightness (I{sub e}), early-type galaxies are observed to populate a two-dimensional fundamental plane (FP) with finite thickness. In Paper III of this series, we showed that the thickness of the FP is predominantly due to variations in the stellar mass surface density ({Sigma}{sub *}) inside the effective radius R{sub e} . These variations represent differences in the dark matter fraction inside R{sub e} (or possibly differences in the initial mass function) from galaxy to galaxy. This means that galaxies do not wind up below the FP at lower surface brightness due to the passive fading of their stellar populations; they are structurally different. Here, we show that these variations in {Sigma}{sub *} at fixed dynamical mass (M{sub dyn}) are linked to differences in the galaxy stellar populations, and therefore to differences in their star formation histories. We demonstrate that the ensemble of stellar population and {Sigma}{sub *} variations through the FP thickness can be explained by a model in which early-type galaxies at fixed M{sub dyn} have their star formation truncated at different times. The thickness of the FP can therefore be interpreted as a sequence of truncation times. Galaxies below the FP have earlier truncation times for a given M{sub dyn}, resulting in lower {Sigma}{sub *}, older ages, lower metallicities in both [Fe/H] and [Mg/H], and higher [Mg/Fe]. We show that this model is quantitatively consistent with simple expectations for chemical enrichment in galaxies. We also present fitting functions for luminosity-weighted age, [Fe/H], [Mg/H], and [Mg/Fe] as functions of the FP parameters {sigma}, R{sub e} , and I{sub e} . These provide a new tool for estimating the stellar population properties of quiescent early-type galaxies for which high-quality spectra are not available.

Published observational data on the Leo, Dorado, NGC 1400, NGC 5044, Antlia, Fornax, and Virgo groups of galaxies are analyzed in terms of the luminosity functions and morphological types of their members. The data sets employed are characterized, and the results are presented in extensive tables and graphs and discussed in detail. While the fractions of early and late galaxies in the groups are similar, the ratio of dwarfs to giants (D/G) in the early galaxies varies monotonically with the richness of the cluster, leading to artificial flattening at the faint end of the total luminosity function in environments with low D/G. The luminosity function for dwarfs in all environments is found to have a slope of about -1.3.

Published observational data on the Leo, Dorado, NGC 1400, NGC 5044, Antlia, Fornax, and Virgo groups of galaxies are analyzed in terms of the luminosity functions and morphological types of their members. The data sets employed are characterized, and the results are presented in extensive tables and graphs and discussed in detail. While the fractions of early and late galaxies in the groups are similar, the ratio of dwarfs to giants (D/G) in the early galaxies varies monotonically with the richness of the cluster, leading to artificial flattening at the faint end of the total luminosity function in environments with low D/G. The luminosity function for dwarfs in all environments is found to have a slope of about -1.3. 54 refs.

We investigate the physical conditions of ionized gas in high-z star-forming galaxies using diagnostic diagrams based on the rest-frame optical emission lines. The sample consists of 701 galaxies with an Hα detection at 1.4≲ z≲ 1.7, from the Fiber Multi-Object Spectrograph (FMOS)-COSMOS survey, that represent the normal star-forming population over the stellar mass range {10}9.6≲ {M}* /{M}ȯ ≲ {10}11.6, with those at {M}* > {10}11 {M}ȯ being well sampled. We confirm an offset of the average location of star-forming galaxies in the Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich (BPT) diagram ({{[O}} {{III}}]/{{H}}β versus {{[N}} {{II}}]/{{H}}α ), primarily toward higher {{[O}} {{III}}]/{{H}}β , compared with local galaxies. Based on the [S ii] ratio, we measure an electron density ({n}{{e}}={220}-130+170 {{cm}}-3), which is higher than that of local galaxies. Based on comparisons to theoretical models, we argue that changes in emission-line ratios, including the offset in the BPT diagram, are caused by a higher ionization parameter both at fixed stellar mass and at fixed metallicity, with additional contributions from a higher gas density and possibly a hardening of the ionizing radiation field. Ionization due to active galactic nuclei is ruled out as assessed with Chandra. As a consequence, we revisit the mass–metallicity relation using {{[N}}{{II}}]/{{H}}α and a new calibration including {{[N}} {{II}}]/{{[S}} {{II}}] as recently introduced by Dopita et al. Consistent with our previous results, the most massive galaxies ({M}* ≳ {10}11 {M}ȯ ) are fully enriched, while those at lower masses have metallicities lower than local galaxies. Finally, we demonstrate that the stellar masses, metallicities, and star formation rates of the FMOS sample are well fit with a physically motivated model for the chemical evolution of star-forming galaxies.

To investigate the evolution of metal-enriched gas over recent cosmic epochs as well as to characterize the diffuse, ionized, metal-enriched circumgalactic medium, we have conducted a blind survey for C iv absorption systems in 89 QSO sightlines observed with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. We have identified 42 absorbers at z < 0.16, comprising the largest uniform blind sample size to date in this redshift range. Our measurements indicate an increasing C iv absorber number density per comoving path length (d{N}/{dX}= 7.5 ± 1.1) and modestly increasing mass density relative to the critical density of the universe (ΩC iv = 10.0 ± 1.5 × 10-8) from z ˜ 1.5 to the present epoch, consistent with predictions from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. Furthermore, the data support a functional form for the column density distribution function that deviates from a single power law, also consistent with independent theoretical predictions. As the data also probe heavy element ions in addition to C iv at the same redshifts, we identify, measure, and search for correlations between column densities of these species where components appear to be aligned in velocity. Among these ion-ion correlations, we find evidence for tight correlations between C ii and Si ii, C ii and Si iii, and C iv and Si iv, suggesting that these pairs of species arise in similar ionization conditions. However, the evidence for correlations decreases as the difference in ionization potential increases. Finally, when controlling for observational bias, we find only marginal evidence for a correlation (86.8% likelihood) between the Doppler line width b(C iv) and column density N(C iv).

As the fourth part in a series of papers on galaxies in the "zone of avoidance" (ZOA) of the Milky Way we present a compilation of 1067 galaxies discovered during a systematic search on Palomar Observatory Sky Survey I (POSS I) red-sensitive prints. The region searched comprises 500 square degrees, at 130d <= l <= 180d, -5d <= b <= +5d. In addition to galactic and equatorial coordinates, we list maximum and minimum optical diameters derived from both the red- and blue-sensitive prints and made cross checks with the IRAS PSC catalogue. An asymmetric distribution of the galaxies with respect to the galactic equator is found and is compared to the locations of optically visible dust clouds and/or the distribution of IR-emitting dust material. There is a pronounced bridge of galaxies across the galactic plane at l ~160d which will be discussed according to recent results on the extension of the Pisces-Perseus supercluster. Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html

Aims: How mass assembly occurs in galaxies and which process(es) contribute to this activity are among the most highly debated questions in galaxy formation and evolution theories. This has motivated our survey MASSIV (Mass Assembly Survey with SINFONI in VVDS) of 0.9 < z < 1.9 star-forming galaxies selected from the purely flux-limited VVDS redshift survey. Methods: We evaluate the characteristic size and stellar mass of 46 MASSIV galaxies at 1 < z < 1.6 and use the internal dynamics obtained with the SINFONI integral field spectrograph mounted at the Very Large Telescope, to derive the stellar mass-size-velocity relations. We use the Kennicutt-Schmidt formulation to estimate the gas content and compute its contribution to the total baryonic mass in MASSIV galaxies. Results: For the first time, we derive the relations between galaxy size, mass, and internal velocity, and the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, from a statistically representative sample of star-forming galaxies at 1 < z < 1.6. We find a dynamical mass that agrees with those of rotating galaxies containing a gas fraction of ~ 20%, that is perfectly consistent with the content derived using the Kennicutt-Schmidt formulation and corresponds to the expected evolution. Non-rotating galaxies have more compact sizes for their stellar component, and are less massive than rotators, but do not have statistically different sizes for their gas-component. Discs of ionized gas have irregular, clumpy distributions, but the simplistic assumption of exponential profiles is verified. We measure a marginal evolution in the size-stellar mass and size-velocity relations in which discs become evenly smaller with cosmic time at fixed stellar mass or velocity, and are less massive at a given velocity than in the local Universe. This result is inconsistent with previous reports of an abnormal evolution in the galactic spin. The scatter in the Tully-Fisher relation is smaller when we introduce the S05 index, which we interpret

Photometry and spectroscopy for seven deep fields containing distant clusters of galaxies with z in the range of 0.35 to 0.55 are presented. Positions and photometric parameters, including r-magnitudes g - r and r - i colors, surface brightnesses, and photometric profile types are given for about 2000 galaxies. Low-resolution spectroscopy is obtained from which redshifts are determined for 289 objects, of which 190 are cluster members. These are classified according to dominant spectral features, and examples are plotted in each cluster. Color-magnitude and color-color diagrams are formed which show trends in the cluster populations, and maps are made of the cluster field using the color-color relations to increase the contrast of cluster over field. Galaxies with spectra typical of old stellar populations cluster most strongly, with active galaxies, those with recent or ongoing star formation, or an active nucleus, distributed more diffusely. The g - r color is well correlated with active star formation as judged from spectral features.

The first results of our HST survey designed to search for Mg 2 and C 4 absorption lines from the disks and halos of low-redshift galaxies using background QSO's and supernovae as probes are presented. Our survey utilizes the high resolution of the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph enabling us to calculate the column densities and doppler parameters of individual components within an absorption complex, and hence determine the physical conditions of the absorbing gas. Observing the complexity of the absorption line profiles i.e., the velocity distribution and total velocity extent of the constituent components, offers an important description of the kinematics of the absorbing gas, and hence an understanding of its origin. Focus is on one sight line in particular, that towards Mrk 205, which passes 3-5 kpc from the intervening galaxy NGC 4319. Mg 2 and C 4 absorption from both local Milky Way halo gas and from NGC 4319 is detected.

We investigate the star formation activity in three galaxy systems in different stages of interaction to determine how the environment of galaxies affects their star forming ability and potential. These systems include an isolated galaxy, a pair of interacting galaxies, and a pair of merging galaxies. All of the target galaxies in these systems have similar stellar masses and similar radii and are at similar redshifts. We trace the star formation activity over the past 1-2 Gyr using spatially and kinematically resolved H-alpha emission, H-alpha equivalent width, and 4000-Angstrom break maps. This work is based on data from the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV)/Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA), and is part of the Project No.0285 in SDSS-IV.

In this paper we present gas density, star formation rate (SFR), stellar masses, and bulge-disk decompositions for a sample of 60 galaxies. Our sample is the combined sample of the BIMA SONG, CARMA STING, and PdBI NUGA surveys. We study the effect of using CO-to-H{sub 2} conversion factors that depend on the CO surface brightness, and also that of correcting SFRs for diffuse emission from old stellar populations. We estimate that SFRs in bulges are typically lower by 20% when correcting for diffuse emission. Using the surface brightness dependent conversion factor, we find that over half of the galaxies in our sample have {Sigma}{sub mol} > 100 M {sub Sun} pc{sup -2}. Though our sample is not complete in any sense, our results are enough to rule out the assumption that bulges are uniformly gas-poor systems. We find a trend between gas density of bulges and bulge Sersic index; bulges with lower Sersic index have higher gas density. Those bulges with low Sersic index (pseudobulges) have gas fractions that are similar to that of disks. Conversely, the typical molecular gas fraction in classical bulges is more similar to that of an elliptical galaxy. We also find that there is a strong correlation between bulges with the highest gas surface density and the galaxy being barred. However, we also find that classical bulges with low gas surface density can be barred as well. Our results suggest that understanding the connection between the central surface density of gas in disk galaxies and the presence of bars should also take into account the total gas content of the galaxy. Finally, we show that when using the corrected SFRs and gas densities, the correlation between SFR surface density and gas surface density of bulges is similar to that of disks. This implies that at the scale of the bulges the timescale for converting gas into stars is comparable to those results found in disks.

In this paper we present gas density, star formation rate (SFR), stellar masses, and bulge-disk decompositions for a sample of 60 galaxies. Our sample is the combined sample of the BIMA SONG, CARMA STING, and PdBI NUGA surveys. We study the effect of using CO-to-H2 conversion factors that depend on the CO surface brightness, and also that of correcting SFRs for diffuse emission from old stellar populations. We estimate that SFRs in bulges are typically lower by 20% when correcting for diffuse emission. Using the surface brightness dependent conversion factor, we find that over half of the galaxies in our sample have Σmol > 100 M ⊙ pc-2. Though our sample is not complete in any sense, our results are enough to rule out the assumption that bulges are uniformly gas-poor systems. We find a trend between gas density of bulges and bulge Sérsic index; bulges with lower Sérsic index have higher gas density. Those bulges with low Sérsic index (pseudobulges) have gas fractions that are similar to that of disks. Conversely, the typical molecular gas fraction in classical bulges is more similar to that of an elliptical galaxy. We also find that there is a strong correlation between bulges with the highest gas surface density and the galaxy being barred. However, we also find that classical bulges with low gas surface density can be barred as well. Our results suggest that understanding the connection between the central surface density of gas in disk galaxies and the presence of bars should also take into account the total gas content of the galaxy. Finally, we show that when using the corrected SFRs and gas densities, the correlation between SFR surface density and gas surface density of bulges is similar to that of disks. This implies that at the scale of the bulges the timescale for converting gas into stars is comparable to those results found in disks.

We present a pilot study of ~3'' resolution observations of low CO transitions with the Submillimeter Array in three nearby Seyfert galaxies, which are part of the low-luminosity quasi-stellar object (LLQSOs) sample consisting of 99 nearby (z = 0.06) type-1 active galactic nuclei (AGN) taken from the Hamburg/ESO quasi-stellar object (QSO) survey. Two sources were observed in 12CO(2-1) and 13CO(2-1) and the third in 12CO(3-2) and HCO+(4-3). None of the sources is detected in continuum emission. More than 80% of the 12CO detected molecular gas is concentrated within a diameter (FWHM) < 1.8 kpc. 13CO is tentatively detected, while HCO+ emission could not be detected. All three objects show indications of a kinematically decoupled central unresolved molecular gas component. The molecular gas masses of the three galaxies are in the range Mmol = (0.7-8.7) × 109M⊙. We give lower limits for the dynamical masses of Mdyn> 1.5 × 109M⊙ and for the dust masses of Mdust> 1.6 × 106M⊙. The R21 = 12CO/13CO(2-1) line luminosity ratios show Galactic values of R21 ~ 5-7 in the outskirts and R21 ≳ 20 in the central region, similar to starbursts and (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs; i.e. LIRGs and ULIRGs), implying higher temperatures and stronger turbulence. All three sources show indications of 12CO(2-1)/12CO(1-0) ratios of ~0.5, suggesting a cold or diffuse gas phase. Strikingly, the 12CO(3-2)/(1-0) ratio of ~1 also indicates a higher excited phase. Since these galaxies have high infrared luminosities of LIR ≥ 1011L⊙ and seem to contain a circumnuclear starburst with minimum surface densities of gas and star formation rate (SFR) around Σmol = 50-550 M⊙pc-2 and ΣSFR = 1.1-3.1 M⊙ kpc-2 yr-1, we conclude that the interstellar medium in the centers of these LIRG Seyferts is strongly affected by violent star formation and better described by the ULIRG mass conversion factor.

Context. Submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the early Universe are potential antecedents of the most massive galaxies we see in the present-day Universe. An important step towards quantifying this galactic evolutionary connection is to investigate the fundamental physical properties of SMGs, such as their stellar mass content (M⋆) and star formation rate (SFR). Aims: We attempt to characterise the physical nature of a 1.1 mm selected, flux-limited, and interferometrically followed up sample of SMGs in the COSMOS field. Methods: We used the latest release of the MAGPHYS code to fit the multiwavelength (UV to radio) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 16 of the target SMGs, which lie at redshifts z ≃ 1.6-5.3. We also constructed the pure radio SEDs of our SMGs using three different radio bands (325 MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 3 GHz). Moreover, since two SMGs in our sample, AzTEC 1 and AzTEC 3, benefit from previous 12C16O line observations, we studied their properties in more detail. Results: The median and 16th-84th percentile ranges of M⋆, infrared (8-1000 μm) luminosity (LIR), SFR, dust temperature (Tdust), and dust mass (Mdust) were derived to be log (M⋆/M⊙) = 10.96+ 0.34-0.19, log (LIR/L⊙) = 12.93+ 0.09-0.19, SFR = 856+ 191-310M⊙ yr-1, Tdust = 40.6+ 7.5-8.1 K, and log (Mdust/M⊙) = 9.17+ 0.03-0.33, respectively. We found that 63% of our target SMGs lie above the galaxy main sequence by more than a factor of 3 and, hence, are starbursts. The 3 GHz radio sizes we have previously measured for the target SMGs were compared with the present M⋆ estimates, and we found that the z> 3 SMGs are fairly consistent with the mass-size relationship of z 2 compact, quiescent galaxies (cQGs). The median radio spectral index is found to be α = -0.77+ 0.28-0.42. The median IR-radio correlation parameter is found to be q = 2.27+ 0.27-0.13, which is lower than was measured locally (median q = 2.64). The gas-to-dust mass ratio for AzTEC 1 is derived to be δgdr = 90+ 23

We review a sample of the early literature in which the reality of the expansion is discussed. Hubble's reluctance, even as late as 1953, to accept the expansion as real is explained as due to his use of equations for distances and absolute magnitudes of redshifted galaxies that do not conform to the modern Mattig equations of the standard model. The Tolman surface brightness test, once the only known test for the reality of the expansion, is contrasted with three other modern tests. These are (1) the time dilation in Type Ia supernovae light curves, (2) the temperature of the relic radiation as a function of redshift, and (3) the surface brightness normalization of the Planckian shape of the relic radiation. We search for the Tolman surface brightness depression with redshift using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data from Paper III for 34 early-type galaxies from the three clusters Cl 1324+3011 (z=0.76), Cl 1604+4304 (z=0.90), and Cl 1604+4321 (z=0.92). Depressions of the surface brightness relative to the zero-redshift fiducial lines in the mean surface brightness-logarithm of the linear radius diagrams of Paper I are found for all three clusters. Expressed as the exponent, n, in 2.5log(1+z)n mag, the value of n averaged over Petrosian radii of η=1.7 and η=2.0 for all three clusters is n=2.59+/-0.17 in the R band and 3.37+/-0.13 in the I band for a q0=1/2 model. The sensitivity of the result to the assumed value of q0 is shown to be less than 23% between q=0 and +1. The conclusion is that the exponent on (1+z) varies from 2.28 to 2.81(+/-0.17) in the R band and 3.06 to 3.55(+/-0.13) in the I band, depending on the value of q0. For a true Tolman signal with n=4, the luminosity evolution in the look-back time, expressed as the exponent in 2.5log(1+z)4-n mag, must then be between 1.72 to 1.19(+/-0.17) in the R band and 0.94 to 0.45(+/-0.13) in the I band. We show that this is precisely the range expected from the evolutionary models of Bruzual and Charlot and

We present a revised Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) calibration, accurate to 2.7% of distance. A modified TRGB magnitude corrected for its color dependence, the QT magnitude, is introduced for better measurement of the TRGB. We determine the color–magnitude relation of the TRGB from photometry of deep images of HST/ACS fields around eight nearby galaxies. The zero-point of the TRGB at the fiducial metallicity ([Fe/H] = ‑1.6 ({(V-I)}0,{TRGB}=1.5)) is obtained from photometry of two distance anchors, NGC 4258 (M106) and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), to which precise geometric distances are known: MQT,TRGB = ‑4.023 ± 0.073 mag from NGC 4258 and MQT,TRGB = ‑4.004 ± 0.096 mag from the LMC. A weighted mean of the two zero-points is MQT,TRGB = ‑4.016 ± 0.058 mag. Quoted uncertainty is ∼2× smaller than those of previous calibrations. We compare the empirical TRGB calibration derived in this study with theoretical stellar models, finding that there are significant discrepancies, especially for red color ({({{F}}606{{W}}-{{F}}814{{W}})}0≳ 2.5). We provide the revised TRGB calibration in several magnitude systems for future studies.

We present two wide-field catalogues of photometrically selected emission line galaxies (ELGs) at z ≈ 0.8 covering about 2800 deg2over the south galactic cap. The catalogues were obtained using a Fisher discriminant technique described in a companion paper. The two catalogues differ by the imaging used to define the Fisher discriminant: the first catalogue includes imaging from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the second also includes information from the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey. Containing respectively 560 045 and 615 601 objects, they represent the largest ELG catalogues available today and were designed for the ELG programme of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). We study potential sources of systematic variation in the angular distribution of the selected ELGs due to fluctuations of the observational parameters. We model the influence of the observational parameters using a multivariate regression and implement a weighting scheme which allows effective removal of all of the systematic errors induced by the observational parameters. We show that fluctuations in the imaging zero-points of the photometric bands have minor impact on the angular distribution of objects in our catalogues. We compute the angular clustering of both catalogues and show that our weighting procedure effectively removes spurious clustering on large scales. We fit a model to the small-scale angular clustering, showing that the selections have similar biases of 1.35/Da(z) and 1.28/Da(z). Both catalogues are publicly available.

Provides background information on radio galaxies. Topic areas addressed include: what produces the radio emission; radio telescopes; locating radio galaxies; how distances to radio galaxies are found; physics of radio galaxies; computer simulations of radio galaxies; and the evolution of radio galaxies with cosmic time. (JN)

The goal of this paper is to present the results of a preliminary analysis of the extended infrared (IR) emission by dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We combine Spitzer Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution (SAGE) and Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data and correlate the infrared emission with gas tracers of H I, CO, and Hα. We present a global analysis of the infrared emission as well as detailed modeling of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a few selected regions. Extended emission by dust associated with the neutral, molecular, and diffuse ionized phases of the ISM is detected at all IR bands from 3.6 μm to 160 μm. The relative abundance of the various dust species appears quite similar to that in the Milky Way (MW) in all the regions we have modeled. We construct maps of the temperature of large dust grains. The temperature map shows variations in the range 12.1-34.7 K, with a systematic gradient from the inner to outer regions, tracing the general distribution of massive stars and individual H II regions as well as showing warmer dust in the stellar bar. This map is used to derive the far-infrared (FIR) optical depth of large dust grains. We find two main departures in the LMC with respect to expectations based on the MW: (1) excess mid-infrared (MIR) emission near 70 μm, referred to as the 70 μm excess, and (2) departures from linear correlation between the FIR optical depth and the gas column density, which we refer to as FIR excess emission. The 70 μm excess increases gradually from the MW to the LMC to the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), suggesting evolution with decreasing metallicity. The excess is associated with the neutral and diffuse ionized gas, with the strongest excess region located in a loop structure next to 30 Dor. We show that the 70 μm excess can be explained by a modification of the size distribution of very small grains with respect to that in the MW, and a corresponding

Instructional objectives and performance requirements are outlined in this course guide for Welding IV, a competency-based course in advanced arc welding offered at the Community College of Allegheny County to provide students with proficiency in: (1) single vee groove welding using code specifications established by the American Welding Society…

International VLBI Service (IVS) is an international collaboration of organizations which operate or support Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) components. The goals are: To provide a service to support geodetic, geophysical and astrometric research and operational activities. To promote research and development activities in all aspects of the geodetic and astrometric VLBI technique. To interact with the community of users of VLBI products and to integrate VLBI into a global Earth observing system.

. Asteroids, like planets, are driven by a great variety of both dynamical and physical mechanisms. In fact, images sent back by space missions show a collection of small worlds whose characteristics seem designed to overthrow our preconceived notions. Given their wide range of sizes and surface compositions, it is clear that many formed in very different places and at different times within the solar nebula. These characteristics make them an exciting challenge for researchers who crave complex problems. The return of samples from these bodies may ultimately be needed to provide us with solutions. In the book Asteroids IV, the editors and authors have taken major strides in the long journey toward a much deeper understanding of our fascinating planetary ancestors. This book reviews major advances in 43 chapters that have been written and reviewed by a team of more than 200 international authorities in asteroids. It is aimed to be as comprehensive as possible while also remaining accessible to students and researchers who are interested in learning about these small but nonetheless important worlds. We hope this volume will serve as a leading reference on the topic of asteroids for the decade to come. We are deeply indebted to the many authors and referees for their tremendous efforts in helping us create Asteroids IV. We also thank the members of the Asteroids IV scientific organizing committee for helping us shape the structure and content of the book. The conference associated with the book, "Asteroids Comets Meteors 2014" held June 30-July 4, 2014, in Helsinki, Finland, did an outstanding job of demonstrating how much progress we have made in the field over the last decade. We are extremely grateful to our host Karri Muinonnen and his team. The editors are also grateful to the Asteroids IV production staff, namely Renée Dotson and her colleagues at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, for their efforts, their invaluable assistance, and their enthusiasm; they made life as

We present the first part of the observations made for the Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies, an EVLA Survey (CHANG-ES) project. The aim of the CHANG-ES project is to study and characterize the nature of radio halos, their prevalence as well as their magnetic fields, and the cosmic rays illuminating these fields. This paper reports observations with the compact D configuration of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) for the sample of 35 nearby edge-on galaxies of CHANG-ES. With the new wide bandwidth capabilities of the VLA, an unprecedented sensitivity was achieved for all polarization products. The beam resolution is an average of 9.″6 and 36″ with noise levels reaching approximately 6 and 30 μJy beam{sup −1} for C- and L-bands, respectively (robust weighting). We present intensity maps in these two frequency bands (C and L), with different weightings, as well as spectral index maps, polarization maps, and new measurements of star formation rates (SFRs). The data products described herein are available to the public in the CHANG-ES data release available at http://www.queensu.ca/changes. We also present evidence of a trend among galaxies with larger halos having higher SFR surface density, and we show, for the first time, a radio continuum image of the median galaxy, taking advantage of the collective signal-to-noise ratio of 30 of our galaxies. This image shows clearly that a “typical” spiral galaxy is surrounded by a halo of magnetic fields and cosmic rays.

The UV, optical, and IR observations of three galaxies (NGC 4214, NGC4670 = Haro 9, and Markarian 36) are reported. The optical spectrum of Markarian 36, a dwarf galaxy, is dominated by strong emission lines. The UV spectrum however shows no strong emission lines, only weak C IV and Si absorption and a strong blue continuum that is still rising shortward of Lyman alpha. Combined UV, optical and IR observations show that the continuum is nearly Rayleigh-Jeans from 1100 A to 2.2 microns, with a slight excess in the optical due to free-free emission and recombination lines. This galaxy has few, if any, red stars. Combined with its low metal content, this lack of red stars is a very strong indication that this galaxy has only recently begun to form stars.

It is now well-established that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) can be determined from the absorption line spectra of old stellar systems, and this has been used to measure the IMF and its variation across the early-type galaxy population. Previous work focused on measuring the slope of the IMF over one or more stellar mass intervals, implicitly assuming that this is a good description of the IMF and that the IMF has a universal low-mass cutoff. In this work we consider more flexible IMFs, including two-component power laws with a variable low-mass cutoff and a general non-parametric model. We demonstrate with mock spectra that the detailed shape of the IMF can be accurately recovered as long as the data quality is high (S/N ≳ 300 Å‑1) and cover a wide wavelength range (0.4–1.0 μm). We apply these flexible IMF models to a high S/N spectrum of the center of the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 1407. Fitting the spectrum with non-parametric IMFs, we find that the IMF in the center shows a continuous rise extending toward the hydrogen-burning limit, with a behavior that is well-approximated by a power law with an index of ‑2.7. These results provide strong evidence for the existence of extreme (super-Salpeter) IMFs in the cores of massive galaxies.

The sources that drove cosmological reionization left clues regarding their identity in the slope and inhomogeneity of the ultraviolet ionizing background (UVB): bright quasars (QSOs) generate a hard UVB with predominantly large-scale fluctuations while Population II stars generate a softer one with smaller scale fluctuations. Metal absorbers probe the UVB's slope because different ions are sensitive to different energies. Likewise, they probe spatial fluctuations because they originate in regions where a galaxy-driven UVB is harder and more intense. We take a first step towards studying the reionization-epoch UVB's slope and inhomogeneity by comparing observations of 12 metal absorbers at z ˜ 6 versus predictions from a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation using three different UVBs: a soft, spatially inhomogeneous `galaxies+QSOs' UVB; a homogeneous `galaxies+QSOs' UVB, and a `QSOs-only' model. All UVBs reproduce the observed column density distributions of C II, Si IV, and C IV reasonably well although high-column, high-ionization absorbers are underproduced, reflecting numerical limitations. With upper limits treated as detections, only a soft, fluctuating UVB reproduces both the observed Si IV/C IV and C II/C IV distributions. The QSOs-only UVB overpredicts both C IV/C II and C IV/Si IV, indicating that it is too hard. The Haardt & Madau (2012) UVB underpredicts C IV/Si IV, suggesting that it lacks amplifications near galaxies. Hence current observations prefer a soft, fluctuating UVB as expected from a predominantly Population II background although they cannot rule out a harder one. Future observations probing a factor of 2 deeper in metal column density will distinguish between the soft, fluctuating and QSOs-only UVBs.

The infrared properties of star-forming galaxies, primarily as determined by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS), are compared to X-ray, optical, and radio properties. Luminosity functions are reviewed and combined with those derived from optically discovered samples using 487 Markarian galaxies with redshifts and published IRAS 60 micron fluxes, and 1074 such galaxies in the Center for Astrophysics redshift survey. It is found that the majority of infrared galaxies which could be detected are low luminosity sources already known from the optical samples, but non-infrared surveys have found only a very small fraction of the highest luminosity sources. Distributions of infrared to optical fluxes and available spectra indicate that the majority of IRAS-selected galaxies are starburst galaxies. Having a census of starburst galaxies and associated dust allow severl important global calculations. The source counts are predicted as a function of flux limits for both infrared and radio fluxes. These galaxies are found to be important radio sources at faint flux limits. Taking the integrated flux to z = 3 indicates that such galaxies are a significant component of the diffuse X-ray background, and could be the the dominant component depending on the nature of the X-ray spectra and source evolution.

Considerable progress has been made on galaxy formation and evolution in recent years, and new issues. The old Hubble classification according to the tuning fork of spirals, lenticulars and ellipticals, is still useful but has given place to the red sequence, the blue cloud and the green valley, showing a real bimodality of types between star forming galaxies (blue) and quenched ones (red). Large surveys have shown that stellar mass and environment density are the two main factors of the evolution from blue to red sequences. Evolution is followed directly with redshift through a look-back time of more than 12 billion years. The most distant galaxy at z=11. has already a stellar mass of a billion suns. In an apparent anti-hierarchical scenario, the most massive galaxies form stars early on, while essentially dwarf galaxies are actively star-formers now. This downsizing feature also applies to the growth of super-massive black holes at the heart of each bulgy galaxy. The feedback from active nuclei is essential to explain the distribution of mass in galaxies, and in particular to explain why the fraction of baryonic matter is so low, lower by more than a factor 5 than the baryonic fraction of the Universe. New instruments just entering in operation, like MUSE and ALMA, provide a new and rich data flow, which is developed in this series of articles.

The Intelligent Virtual Station (IVS) is enabling the integration of design, training, and operations capabilities into an intelligent virtual station for the International Space Station (ISS). A viewgraph of the IVS Remote Server is presented.

The Andromeda galaxy is the closest SPIRAL GALAXY to the MILKY WAY, just visible to the naked eye on a dark night as a faint smudge of light in the constellation Andromeda. The earliest records of the Andromeda nebula, as it is still often referred to, date back to AD 964, to the `Book of the Fixed Stars' published by the Persian astronomer AL-SÛFI. The first European to officially note the Andro...

There are many examples of clustering in astronomy. Stars in our own galaxy are often seen as being gravitationally bound into tight globular or open clusters. The Solar System's Trojan asteroids cluster at the gravitational Langrangian in front of Jupiter’s orbit. On the largest of scales, we find gravitationally bound clusters of galaxies, the Virgo cluster (in the constellation of Virgo at a distance of ˜50 million light years) being a prime nearby example. The Virgo cluster subtends an angle of nearly 8◦ on the sky and is known to contain over a thousand member galaxies. Galaxy clusters play an important role in our understanding of theUniverse. Clusters exist at peaks in the three-dimensional large-scale matter density field. Their sky (2D) locations are easy to detect in astronomical imaging data and their mean galaxy redshifts (redshift is related to the third spatial dimension: distance) are often better (spectroscopically) and cheaper (photometrically) when compared with the entire galaxy population in large sky surveys. Photometric redshift (z) [Photometric techniques use the broad band filter magnitudes of a galaxy to estimate the redshift. Spectroscopic techniques use the galaxy spectra and emission/absorption line features to measure the redshift] determinations of galaxies within clusters are accurate to better than delta_z = 0.05 [7] and when studied as a cluster population, the central galaxies form a line in color-magnitude space (called the the E/S0 ridgeline and visible in Figure 16.3) that contains galaxies with similar stellar populations [15]. The shape of this E/S0 ridgeline enables astronomers to measure the cluster redshift to within delta_z = 0.01 [23]. The most accurate cluster redshift determinations come from spectroscopy of the member galaxies, where only a fraction of the members need to be spectroscopically observed [25,42] to get an accurate redshift to the whole system. If light traces mass in the Universe, then the locations

To address the shortage of experimental data for electron spectra of triply ionized rare-earth elements we have calculated energy levels and lifetimes of 4f{sup n+1} and 4f{sup n}5d configurations of Nd IV (n=2), Pm IV (n=3), Sm IV (n=4), and Eu IV (n=5) using Hartree-Fock and configuration-interaction methods. To control the accuracy of our calculations we also performed similar calculations for Pr III, Nd III, and Sm III, for which experimental data are available. The results are important, in particular, for physics of magnetic garnets.

Implications of the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background on large and small angular scales for galaxy formation are reviewed. In primeval adiabatic fluctuations, a universe dominated by cold, weakly interacting nonbaryonic matter, e.g., the massive photino is postulated. A possible signature of photino annihilation in our galactic halo involves production of cosmic ray antiprotons. If the density is near its closure value, it is necessary to invoke a biasing mechanism for suppressing galaxy formation throughout most of the universe in order to reconcile the dark matter density with the lower astronomical determinations of the mean cosmological density. A mechanism utilizing the onset of primordial massive star formation to strip gaseous protogalaxies is described. Only the densest, early collapsing systems form luminous galaxies. (ESA)

For a preliminary study of whether C IV absorption at Zabs approximately Zem is related to associated galaxy companions, we have collected data from a sample of 10 quasars with 0.15 less than z less than 0.65 for which high-resolution optical and UV spectroscopy is available from the literature, and for which we have deep optical images and limited spectroscopy. We also present new optical spectra for two of our samples. Four of these quasars have associated C IV absorption systems. In thes four fields, there are eight galaxies with Mr less than -19.0 mag within 35 kpc of the quasar (projected distance, assuming they are at the quasar redshift), which may be candidates for the associated C IV absorption. This observed density of galaxies near quasars with associated C IV absorption is significantly greater than that for a control sample of quasars chosen from the literature. This result suggests that galaxies near the quasar line of sight may be linked with associated C IV absorption. None of these quasars show associated Mg II absorption, despite the presence of galaxies very near the line of sight, suggesting a Mg II 'proximity effect,' where ionizing flux from the quasar destroys the Mg(+) from at least the outer parts of the galaxies. Three quasars are located in rich galaxy clusters, but none of these quasars are found to have associated C IV absorption. This suggests that galaxies in rich clusters associated with quasars are less likely to be metal-line absorbers. It is plausible that the extended galaxy halos which may be responsible for the absorptions are stripped from galaxies in these dense environments. While it seems that at Z approximately 0.6 rich clusters do not cause them, associated C IV absorption systems at higher redshift may be explained by associated clusters if there has been evolution in the properties of galaxy halos in dense environments.

associated with the spiral arms. A nonaxisymmetric model including a bar and logarithmic spiral arms with oval streamlines along the equipotentials around the bar reduces these residuals and gives also a good representation of the velocity field in NGC 253. A comparison of the two galaxies, both of type SAB(s)c, demonstrates the close similarity of all their physical, kinematical, and dynamical properties.

We propose to obtain high-quality, broadened (equivalent to trailed) spectra for 9 Type I and 2 Type 2 Seyfert galaxies. Only broadened spectra have sufficient signal-to-noise ratios to allow detailed fitting of line profiles needed to investigate both the kinematics and dynamics of the emitting regions and their stratification. These spectra will also allow more accurate measurements of weak spectral features, such as: OI 1304 and He II 1640, needed to estimate reddening; N IV] 1486, O III] 1663 and N III] 1749, for abundance analyses; absorption lines such as Si IV l400 and C IV 1550, for estimating the covering factor of the broad line region (BLR); and Galactic halo absorption lines of Si II 1260, C II 1335 and Fe II 1608. There are broad features superposed on the spectrum of Seyfert galaxies: the 2200A dust absorption feature, the emission hump at 3200A and several other unidentified bumps and wiggles. Their detection, measurement and quantitative study also require spectra recorded with high signal-to-noise ratios. X-ray spectra are already available for all 9 Type 1 Seyferts, and these data will be combined with our UV continua to estimate the amounts of available ionizing radiation. We also plan to measure the fluxes of the prominent emission lines: L-alpha, SI IV 1400, C IV 1550, C III] 1900 and Mg II 2800, to extend our investigation of the L-alpha/H-beta ratio and to provide a homogeneous set of high quality data to allow the evaluation of models for individual objects instead of, as in the past, for an assumed "typical" Seyfert or quasar.

We construct equilibrium models of galaxy orbits in five nearby galaxy clusters to study the distribution of binding mass, the nature of galaxy orbits and the kinematic differences between cluster populations of emission-line and non emission-line galaxies. We avail ourselves of 1718 galaxy redshifts (and 1203 cluster member redshifts) in this Jeans analysis; most of these redshifts are new, coming from multifiber spectroscopic runs on the MDM 2.4m with the Decaspec and queue observing on WIYN with Hydra. In addition to the spectroscopic data we have V and R band CCD mosaics (obtained with the MDM 1.3m) of the Abell region in each of these clusters. Our scientific goals include: (i) a quantitative estimate of the range of binding masses M500 consistent with the optical and X-ray data, (ii) an estimate of the typical galaxy oribital anisotropies required to make the galaxy data consistent with the NFW expectation for the cluster potential, (iii) a better understanding of the systematics inherent in the process of rescaling and ``stacking'' galaxy cluster observations, (iv) a reexamination of the recent CNOC results implying that emission-line (blue) galaxies are an equilibrium population with a more extended radial distribution than their non emission-line (red) galaxy counterparts and (v) a measure of the galaxy contribution to the cluster mass of baryons.

Context. The gravitational lensing effect provides various ways to study the mass environment of galaxies. Aims: We investigate how galaxy-galaxy(-galaxy) lensing can be used to test models of galaxy formation and evolution. Methods: We consider two semi-analytic galaxy formation models based on the Millennium Run N-body simulation: the Durham model by Bower et al. (2006, MNRAS, 370, 645) and the Garching model by Guo et al. (2011, MNRAS, 413, 101). We generate mock lensing observations for the two models, and then employ Fast Fourier Transform methods to compute second- and third-order aperture statistics in the simulated fields for various galaxy samples. Results: We find that both models predict qualitatively similar aperture signals, but there are large quantitative differences. The Durham model predicts larger amplitudes in general. In both models, red galaxies exhibit stronger aperture signals than blue galaxies. Using these aperture measurements and assuming a linear deterministic bias model, we measure relative bias ratios of red and blue galaxy samples. We find that a linear deterministic bias is insufficient to describe the relative clustering of model galaxies below ten arcmin angular scales. Dividing galaxies into luminosity bins, the aperture signals decrease with decreasing luminosity for brighter galaxies, but increase again for fainter galaxies. This increase is likely an artifact due to too many faint satellite galaxies in massive group and cluster halos predicted by the models. Conclusions: Our study shows that galaxy-galaxy(-galaxy) lensing is a sensitive probe of galaxy evolution.

The Mark IV ground communication facility (GCF) as it is implemented to support the network consolidation program is reviewed. Changes in the GCF are made in the area of increased capacity. Common carrier circuits are the medium for data transfer. The message multiplexing in the Mark IV era differs from the Mark III era, in that all multiplexing is done in a GCF computer under GCF software control, which is similar to the multiplexing currently done in the high speed data subsystem.

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are the most insignificant extragalactic stellar systems in terms of their visibility, but potentially very significant in terms of their role in the formation and evolution of much more luminous galaxies. We discuss the present observational data and their implications for theories of the formation and evolution of both dwarf and giant galaxies. The putative dark-matter content of these low-surface-brightness systems is of particular interest, as is their chemical evolution. Surveys for new dwarf spheroidals hidden behind the stars of our Galaxy and those which are not bound to giant galaxies may give new clues as to the origins of this unique class of galaxy.

The development of galaxies hinges upon the behavior of the gas within and around them, as this is paramount to understanding the regulation of star formation. To investigate these processes, we analyzed data from the MaNGA survey for two galaxies with nearby background quasars for which Hubble Space Telescope data exists. We plotted and analyzed spectra for various elemental transitions, especially [N II] , [O III], and H-alpha, to gain information about gas properties such as temperature, ionization fraction, and star formation. We also plotted velocity fields based upon the gas motions as determined through Doppler shift. One of the galaxies displayed signs of heavy star formation and the other displayed signs of Active Galactic Nucleus activity. The stellar and gaseous velocity fields of the AGN galaxy were very disparate which suggests some sort of interaction with another galaxy in the galaxy’s past. The properties of the gas in these galaxies could potentially teach us more about the evolutionary path of the Milky Way, which forms stars itself while interacting heavily with other galaxies. This work base on data from the forth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV)/Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA), and is part of the Project No.0034 in SDSS-IV.

A common assumption is that galaxies fall in two distinct regions of a plot of specific star formation rate (SSFR) versus galaxy stellar mass: a star-forming galaxy main sequence (GMS) and a separate region of 'passive' or 'red and dead galaxies'. Starting from a volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies designed to contain most of the stellar mass in this volume, and thus representing the end-point of ≃12 billion years of galaxy evolution, we investigate the distribution of galaxies in this diagram today. We show that galaxies follow a strongly curved extended GMS with a steep negative slope at high galaxy stellar masses. There is a gradual change in the morphologies of the galaxies along this distribution, but there is no clear break between early-type and late-type galaxies. Examining the other evidence that there are two distinct populations, we argue that the 'red sequence' is the result of the colours of galaxies changing very little below a critical value of the SSFR, rather than implying a distinct population of galaxies. Herschel observations, which show at least half of early-type galaxies contain a cool interstellar medium, also imply continuity between early-type and late-type galaxies. This picture of a unitary population of galaxies requires more gradual evolutionary processes than the rapid quenching process needed to explain two distinct populations. We challenge theorists to predict quantitatively the properties of this 'Galaxy End Sequence'.

We study the characteristics of moving type IV radio bursts that extend to hectometric wavelengths (interplanetary type IV or type {IV}_{{IP}} bursts) and their relationship with energetic phenomena on the Sun. Our dataset comprises 48 interplanetary type IV bursts observed with the Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation (WAVES) instrument onboard Wind in the 13.825 MHz - 20 kHz frequency range. The dynamic spectra of the Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN), the Nançay Decametric Array (DAM), the Appareil de Routine pour le Traitement et l' Enregistrement Magnetique de l' Information Spectral (ARTEMIS-IV), the Culgoora, Hiraso, and the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN) Radio Spectrographs were used to track the evolution of the events in the low corona. These were supplemented with soft X-ray (SXR) flux-measurements from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and coronal mass ejections (CME) data from the Large Angle and Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Positional information of the coronal bursts was obtained by the Nançay Radioheliograph (NRH). We examined the relationship of the type IV events with coronal radio bursts, CMEs, and SXR flares. The majority of the events (45) were characterized as compact, their duration was on average 106 minutes. This type of events was, mostly, associated with M- and X-class flares (40 out of 45) and fast CMEs, 32 of these events had CMEs faster than 1000 km s^{-1}. Furthermore, in 43 compact events the CME was possibly subjected to reduced aerodynamic drag as it was propagating in the wake of a previous CME. A minority (three) of long-lived type {IV}_{{IP}} bursts was detected, with durations from 960 minutes to 115 hours. These events are referred to as extended or long duration and appear to replenish their energetic electron content, possibly from electrons escaping from the corresponding coronal

Absorption-line spectroscopy of 23 background QSOs and numerous background galaxies has let us measure the spatial distribution of metals and neutral hydrogen around 1044 UV-selected galaxies at redshifts 1.8galaxy is surrounded to radii r~40 proper kpc by gas that has a large velocity spread (Δv>260 km s-1) and produces very strong absorption lines (NCIV>>1014 cm-2) in the spectra of background objects. These absorption lines are almost as strong as those produced by a typical galaxy's own interstellar gas. Absorption with an average column density of NCIV~=1014 cm-2 extends out to ~80 kpc, a radius large enough to imply that most strong intergalactic C IV absorption is associated with star-forming galaxies like those in our sample. Our measurement of the galaxy-C IV spatial correlation function shows that even the weakest detectable C IV systems are found in the same regions as galaxies; we find that the cross-correlation length increases with C IV column density and is similar to the galaxy autocorrelation length (r0~4 h-1 Mpc) for NCIV>~1012.5 cm-2. Distortions in the redshift-space galaxy-C IV correlation function on small scales may imply that some of the C IV systems have large peculiar velocities. Four of the five detected O VI absorption systems in our sample lie within 400 proper kpc of a known galaxy. Strong Lyα absorption is produced by the intergalactic gas within 1 h-1 comoving Mpc of most galaxies, but for a significant minority (~1/3) the absorption is weak or absent. This is not observed in smooth-particle hydrodynamic simulations that omit the effects of ``feedback'' from galaxy formation. We were unable to identify any statistically significant differences in age, dust reddening, environment, or kinematics between galaxies with weak nearby H I absorption and the rest, although galaxies with weak absorption may have higher star formation rates. Galaxies near intergalactic C IV systems appear to reside in relatively dense

Weak lensing has emerged as an important cosmological probe for our understanding of dark matter and dark energy. The low redshift spectroscopic sample of SDSS-III BOSS survey, with a well-understood galaxy population is ideal to probe cosmology using galaxy-galaxy lensing and galaxy-CMB lensing. I will present results from two methods that combine information from lensing and galaxy clustering. The first involves combining lensing and galaxy clustering to directly measure galaxy bias and thus recover the matter correlation function, which is directly predicted from theory. Using scales where linear perturbation theory is valid, we carry out a joint analysis of galaxy-galaxy clustering, galaxy-galaxy lensing, and CMB-galaxy lensing, and constrain linear galaxy bias b=1.80+/-0.06, Omega_m=0.284+/-0.024, and relative calibration bias between CMB and galaxy lensing, b_l=0.82+/-0.15. The second method involves including information about redshift-space distortions to measure the E_G statistic to test gravitational physics at cosmological scales. This statistic is independent of galaxy bias and the amplitude of the matter power spectrum. Different theories of gravity predict a different E_G value, making it a clean and stringent test of GR at cosmological scales. Using the BOSS low redshift sample, we have measured E_G at z=0.27 with ~10% (15%) accuracy using galaxy (CMB) lensing, with results consistent with LCDM predictions.

Galaxy groups can be characterized by the radius of decoupling from cosmic expansion, the radius of the caustic of second turnaround, and the velocity dispersion of galaxies within this latter radius. These parameters can be a challenge to measure, especially for small groups with few members. In this study, results are gathered pertaining to particularly well-studied groups over four decades in group mass. Scaling relations anticipated from theory are demonstrated and coefficients of the relationships are specified. There is an update of the relationship between light and mass for groups, confirming that groups with mass of a few times 10{sup 12}M{sub ⊙} are the most lit up while groups with more and less mass are darker. It is demonstrated that there is an interesting one-to-one correlation between the number of dwarf satellites in a group and the group mass. There is the suggestion that small variations in the slope of the luminosity function in groups are caused by the degree of depletion of intermediate luminosity systems rather than variations in the number per unit mass of dwarfs. Finally, returning to the characteristic radii of groups, the ratio of first to second turnaround depends on the dark matter and dark energy content of the universe and a crude estimate can be made from the current observations of Ω{sub matter}∼0.15 in a flat topology, with a 68% probability of being less than 0.44.

For a preliminary study of whether C IV absorption at Z(sub abs) approximately Z(sub em) is related to associated galaxy companions, we have collected data from a sample of 10 quasars with 0.15 less than z less than 0.65 for which high-resolution optical and UV spectroscopy is available from the literature, and for which we have deep optical images and limited spectroscopy. We also present new optical spectra for two of our samples. Four of these quasars have associated C IV absorption systems. In thes four fields, there are eight galaxies with M(sub r) less than -19.0 mag within 35 kpc of the quasar (projected distance, assuming they are at the quasar redshift), which may be candidates for the associated C IV absorption. This observed density of galaxies near quasars with associated C IV absorption is significantly greater than that for a control sample of quasars chosen from the literature. This result suggests that galaxies near the quasar line of sight may be linked with associated C IV absorption. None of these quasars show associated Mg II absorption, despite the presence of galaxies very near the line of sight, suggesting a Mg II 'proximity effect,' where ionizing flux from the quasar destroys the Mg(+) from at least the outer parts of the galaxies. Three quasars are located in rich galaxy clusters, but none of these quasars are found to have associated C IV absorption. This suggests that galaxies in rich clusters associated with quasars are less likely to be metal-line absorbers. It is plausible that the extended galaxy halos which may be responsible for the absorptions are stripped from galaxies in these dense environments. While it seems that at Z approximately 0.6 rich clusters do not cause them, associated C IV absorption systems at higher redshift may be explained by associated clusters if there has been evolution in the properties of galaxy halos in dense environments.

The catalog was compiled to assist instructors in planning community college and university curricula using the 48 computer-assisted accountancy lessons available on PLATO IV (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation) for first semester accounting courses. It contains information on lesson access, lists of acceptable abbreviations for…

This report of the Technology Coordinator includes the following: 1) continued work to implement the new VLBI2010 system, 2) the 1st International VLBI Technology Workshop, 3) a VLBI Digital- Backend Intercomparison Workshop, 4) DiFX software correlator development for geodetic VLBI, 5) a review of progress towards global VLBI standards, and 6) a welcome to new IVS Technology Coordinator Bill Petrachenko.

The PLATO IV computer-based instructional system consists of a large scale centrally located CDC 6400 computer and a large number of remote student terminals. This is a brief and general description of the proposed input/output hardware necessary to interface the student terminals with the computer's central processing unit (CPU) using available…

In this paper three changes and one new development for the method of exploratory factor analysis (a second generation Little Jiffy) developed by Kaiser are described. Following this short description a step-by-step computer algorithm of the revised method, dubbed Little Jiffy, Mark IV is presented. (MP)

Using spatially resolved spectroscopy from SDSS-IV MaNGA we have demonstrated that low ionization emission-line regions (LIERs) in local galaxies result from photoionization by hot evolved stars, not active galactic nuclei, hence tracing galactic region hosting old stellar population where, despite the presence of ionized gas, star formation is no longer occurring. LIERs are ubiquitous in both quiescent galaxies and in the central regions of galaxies where star formation takes place at larger radii. We refer to these two classes of galaxies as extended LIER (eLIER) and central LIER (cLIER) galaxies, respectively. cLIERs are late-type galaxies primarily spread across the green valley, in the transition region between the star formation main sequence and quiescent galaxies. These galaxies display regular disc rotation in both stars and gas, although featuring a higher central stellar velocity dispersion than star-forming galaxies of the same mass. cLIERs are consistent with being slowly quenched inside-out; the transformation is associated with massive bulges, pointing towards the importance of bulge growth via secular evolution. eLIERs are morphologically early types and are indistinguishable from passive galaxies devoid of line emission in terms of their stellar populations, morphology and central stellar velocity dispersion. Ionized gas in eLIERs shows both disturbed and disc-like kinematics. When a large-scale flow/rotation is observed in the gas, it is often misaligned relative to the stellar component. These features indicate that eLIERs are passive galaxies harbouring a residual cold gas component, acquired mostly via external accretion. Importantly, quiescent galaxies devoid of line emission reside in denser environments and have significantly higher satellite fraction than eLIERs. Environmental effects thus represent the likely cause for the existence of line-less galaxies on the red sequence.

Examines mechanisms of how stars are formed in irregular galaxies. Formation in giant irregular galaxies, formation in dwarf irregular galaxies, and comparisons with larger star-forming regions found in spiral galaxies are considered separately. (JN)

We report new observations of circumgalactic gas from the COS-Dwarfs survey, a systematic investigation of the gaseous halos around 43 low-mass z ≤ 0.1 galaxies using background QSOs observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. From the projected one-dimensional and two-dimensional distribution of C IV absorption, we find that C IV is detected out to ≈100 kpc (corresponding roughly to ≈0.5 R {sub vir}) of the host galaxies. The C IV absorption strength falls off radially as a power law, and beyond ≈0.5 R {sub vir}, no C IV absorption is detected above our sensitivity limit of ≈50-100 mÅ. We find a tentative correlation between detected C IV absorption strength and star formation, paralleling the strong correlation seen in highly ionized oxygen for L ∼ L* galaxies by the COS-Halos survey. The data imply a large carbon reservoir in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of these galaxies, corresponding to a minimum carbon mass of ≳ 1.2 × 10{sup 6} M {sub ☉} out to ∼110 kpc. This mass is comparable to the carbon mass in the interstellar medium and exceeds the carbon mass currently in the stars of these galaxies. The C IV absorption seen around these sub-L* galaxies can account for almost two-thirds of all W{sub r} ≥ 100 mÅ C IV absorption detected at low z. Comparing the C IV covering fraction with hydrodynamical simulations, we find that an energy-driven wind model is consistent with the observations whereas a wind model of constant velocity fails to reproduce the CGM or the galaxy properties.

Combining galaxy-galaxy lensing and galaxy clustering is a promising method for inferring the growth rate of large scale structure, a quantity that will shed light on the mechanism driving the acceleration of the Universe. The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a prime candidate for such an analysis, with its measurements of both the distribution of galaxies on the sky and the tangential shears of background galaxies induced by these foreground lenses. By constructing an end-to-end analysis that combines large-scale galaxy clustering and small-scale galaxy-galaxy lensing, we also forecast the potential of a combined probes analysis on DES datasets. In particular, we develop a practical approach to a DES combined probes analysis by jointly modeling the assumptions and systematics affecting the different components of the data vector, employing a shared halo model, HOD parametrization, photometric redshift errors, and shear measurement errors. Furthermore, we study the effect of external priors on different subsets of these parameters. We conclude that DES data will provide powerful constraints on the evolution of structure growth in the universe, conservatively/ optimistically constraining the growth function to 8%/4.9% with its first-year data covering 1000 square degrees, and to 4%/2.3% with its full five-year data covering 5000 square degrees.

This report evaluates Enhanced Design Alternative (EDA) IV as part of the second phase of the License Application Design Selection (LADS) effort. The EDA IV concept was compared to the VA reference design using criteria from the ''Design Input Request for LADS Phase II EDA Evaluations'' (CRWMS M&O 1999b) and (CRWMS M&O 1999f). Briefly, the EDA IV concept arranges the waste packages close together in an emplacement configuration known as ''line load''. Continuous pre-closure ventilation keeps the waste packages from exceeding the 350 C cladding and 200 C (4.3.13) drift wall temperature limits. This EDA concept keeps relatively high, uniform emplacement drift temperatures (post-closure) to drive water away from the repository and thus dry out the pillars between emplacement drifts. The waste package is shielded to permit human access to emplacement drifts and includes an integral filler inside the package to reduce the amount of water that can contact the waste form. Closure of the repository is desired 50 years after first waste is emplaced. Both backfill and a drip shields will be emplaced at closure to improve post-closure performance.

The presence of high z quasars and radio galaxies tells us that galaxy formation began at z greater than 5, but leaves unanswered the question of when the bulk of galaxies formed. Recent near infrared number counts of galaxies strongly favor a cosmological geometry with q(sub 0) = 0.5 and lambda = 0. Such a model grossly underpredicts blue galaxy counts. Spectroscopy shows that the excess blue galaxies at B = 24 are dwarfs at z approximately equals 0.4 which are no longer seen at the present time. These dwarfs must contain a large amount of baryonic matter which is not included in current estimates of baryonic omega .

The presence of high-z quasars and radio galaxies indicates that galaxy formation began at z greater than 5, but leaves unanswered the question of when the bulk of galaxies formed. Recent near-infrared number counts of galaxies strongly favor a cosmological geometry with q0 = 0.5 and Lambda = 0. Such a model grossly underpredicts blue galaxy counts. Spectroscopy shows that the excess blue galaxies at B = 24 are dwarfs at z = 0.4, which are no longer seen at the present time. These dwarfs must contain a large amount of baryonic matter which is not included in current estimates of baryonic Omega.

The Sputnik IV launch occurred on May 15, 1960. On May 19, an attempt to deorbit a 'space cabin' failed and the cabin went into a higher orbit. The orbit of the cabin was monitored and Moonwatch volunteer satellite tracking teams were alerted to watch for the vehicle demise. On September 5, 1962, several team members from Milwaukee, Wisconsin made observations starting at 4:49 a.m. of a fireball following the predicted orbit of Sputnik IV. Requests went out to report any objects found under the fireball path. An early morning police patrol in Manitowoc had noticed a metal object on a street and had moved it to the curb. Later the officers recovered the object and had it dropped off at the Milwaukee Journal. The Moonwarch team got the object and reported the situation to Moonwatch Headquarters at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. A team member flew to Cambridge with the object. It was a solid, 9.49 kg piece of steel with a slag-like layer attached to it. Subsequent analyses showed that it contained radioactive nuclei produced by cosmic ray exposure in space. The scientists at the Observatory quickly recognized that measurements of its induced radioactivity could serve as a calibration for similar measurements of recently fallen nickel-iron meteorites. Concurrently, the Observatory directorate informed government agencies that a fragment from Sputnik IV had been recovered. Coincidently, a debate in the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space involved the issue of liability for damage caused by falling satellite fragments. On September 12, the Observatory delivered the bulk of the fragment to the US Delegation to the UN. Two days later, the fragment was used by US Ambassador Francis Plimpton as an exhibit that the time had come to agree on liability for damage from satellite debris. He offered the Sputnik IV fragment to USSR Ambassador P.D. Morozov, who refused the offer. On October 23, Drs. Alla Massevitch and E.K. Federov of the USSR visited the

We live in a universe filled with galaxies with an amazing variety of sizes and shapes. One of the biggest challenges for astronomers working in this field is to understand how all these types relate to each other in the background of an expanding universe. Modern astronomical surveys (like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey) have revolutionised this field of astronomy, by providing vast numbers of galaxies to study. The sheer size of the these databases made traditional visual classification of the types galaxies impossible and in 2007 inspired the Galaxy Zoo project (www.galaxyzoo.org); starting the largest ever scientific collaboration by asking members of the public to help classify galaxies by type and shape. Galaxy Zoo has since shown itself, in a series of now more than 30 scientific papers, to be a fantastic database for the study of galaxy evolution. In this Invited Discourse I spoke a little about the historical background of our understanding of what galaxies are, of galaxy classification, about our modern view of galaxies in the era of large surveys. I finish with showcasing some of the contributions galaxy classifications from the Galaxy Zoo project are making to our understanding of galaxy evolution.

The large-scale structure of the universe is dominated by clustering. Most galaxies seem to be members of pairs, groups, clusters, and superclusters. To that degree we are able to recognize a hierarchical structure of the universe. Our local group of galaxies (LG) is centred on two large spiral galaxies: the Andromeda nebula and our own galaxy. Three sr:naller galaxies - like M 33 - and at least 23 dwarf galaxies (KraanKorteweg and Tammann, 1979, Astronomische Nachrichten, 300, 181) can be found in the evironment of these two large galaxies. Neighbouring groups have comparable sizes (about 1 Mpc in extent) and comparable numbers of bright members. Small dwarf galaxies cannot at present be observed at great distances.

A study to demonstrate how the dynamics of galaxies may be investigated through the creation of galaxies within a computer model is presented. The numerical technique for simulating galaxies is shown to be both highly efficient and highly robust. Consideration is given to the anatomy of a galaxy, the gravitational N-body problem, numerical approaches to the N-body problem, use of the Poisson equation, and the symplectic integrator.

The main activities carried out at the PMD (Politecnico di Milano DIIAR) IVS Analysis Center during 2012 are briefly higlighted, and future plans for 2013 are sketched out. We principally continued to process European VLBI sessions using different approaches to evaluate possible differences due to various processing choices. Then VLBI solutions were also compared to the GPS ones as well as the ones calculated at co-located sites. Concerning the observational aspect, several tests were performed to identify the most suitable method to achieve the highest possible accuracy in the determination of GNSS (GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM) satellite positions using the VLBI technique.

This Division IV was started on a trial basis at the General Assembly in The Hague 1994 and was formally accepted at the Kyoto General Assembly in 1997. Its broad coverage of ``Stars'' is reflected in its relatively large number of Commissions and so of members (1266 in late 2011). Its kindred Division V, ``Variable Stars'', has the same history of its beginning. The thinking at the time was to achieve some kind of balance between the number of members in each of the 12 Divisions. Amid the current discussion of reorganizing the number of Divisions into a more compact form it seems advisable to make this numerical balance less of an issue than the rationalization of the scientific coverage of each Division, so providing more effective interaction within a particular field of astronomy. After all, every star is variable to a certain degree and such variability is becoming an ever more powerful tool to understand the characteristics of every kind of normal and peculiar star. So we may expect, after hearing the reactions of members, that in the restructuring a single Division will result from the current Divisions IV and V.

We have studied the relationship between the high- and low-ionization [O IV] (lambda)25.89 microns, [Ne III] (lambda)15.56 microns, and [Ne II] (lambda)12.81 microns emission lines with the aim of constraining the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star formation contributions for a sample of 103 Seyfert galaxies.We use the [O IV] and [Ne II] emission as tracers for the AGN power and star formation to investigate the ionization state of the emission-line gas.We find that Seyfert 2 galaxies have, on average, lower [O IV]/[Ne II] ratios than Seyfert 1 galaxies. This result suggests two possible scenarios: (1) Seyfert 2 galaxies have intrinsically weaker AGNs, or (2) Seyfert 2 galaxies have relatively higher star formation rates than Seyfert 1 galaxies. We estimate the fraction of [Ne II] directly associated with the AGNs and find that Seyfert 2 galaxies have a larger contribution from star formation, by a factor of approx.1.5 on average, than what is found in Seyfert 1 galaxies. Using the stellar component of [Ne II] as a tracer of the current star formation, we found similar star formation rates in Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies.We examined the mid- and far-infrared continua and found that [Ne II] is well correlated with the continuum luminosity at 60 microns and that both [Ne III] and [O IV] are better correlated with the 25 micron luminosities than with the continuum at longer wavelengths, suggesting that the mid-infrared continuum luminosity is dominated by the AGN, while the far-infrared luminosity is dominated by star formation. Overall, these results test the unified model of AGNs and suggest that the differences between Seyfert galaxies cannot be solely due to viewing angle dependence.

Using the recently completed Southern Sky Redshift Survey, in conjunction with measurements of the central surface brightness, the existence of segregation in the way galaxies of different morphology and surface brightness are distributed in space is investigated. Results indicate that there is some evidence that low surface brightness galaxies are more randomly distributed than brighter ones and that this effect is independent of the well-known tendency of early-type galaxies to cluster more strongly than spirals. Presuming that the observed clustering was established at the epoch of galaxy formation, it may provide circumstantial evidence for biased galaxy formation. 24 refs.

A program to investigate the properties of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies involving surface photometry in U, B, V, R, I, and H-alpha, HI imaging with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) and the very large array (VLA) and spectrophotometry of H2 regions in LSB galaxies is underway. The goal is to verify the idea that LSB galaxies have low star formation rates because the local gas density falls below the critical density for star formation, and to study the stellar population and abundances in LSB galaxies. Such information should help understanding the evolutionary history of LSB galaxies. Some preliminary results are reported.

Astronomers have caught multiple massive galaxies in the act of merging about 4 billion years ago. This discovery, made possible by combining the power of the best ground- and space-based telescopes, uniquely supports the favoured theory of how galaxies form. ESO PR Photo 24/08 ESO PR Photo 24/08 Merging Galaxies in Groups How do galaxies form? The most widely accepted answer to this fundamental question is the model of 'hierarchical formation', a step-wise process in which small galaxies merge to build larger ones. One can think of the galaxies forming in a similar way to how streams merge to form rivers, and how these rivers, in turn, merge to form an even larger river. This theoretical model predicts that massive galaxies grow through many merging events in their lifetime. But when did their cosmological growth spurts finish? When did the most massive galaxies get most of their mass? To answer these questions, astronomers study massive galaxies in clusters, the cosmological equivalent of cities filled with galaxies. "Whether the brightest galaxies in clusters grew substantially in the last few billion years is intensely debated. Our observations show that in this time, these galaxies have increased their mass by 50%," says Kim-Vy Tran from the University of Zürich, Switzerland, who led the research. The astronomers made use of a large ensemble of telescopes and instruments, including ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Hubble Space Telescope, to study in great detail galaxies located 4 billion light-years away. These galaxies lie in an extraordinary system made of four galaxy groups that will assemble into a cluster. In particular, the team took images with VIMOS and spectra with FORS2, both instruments on the VLT. From these and other observations, the astronomers could identify a total of 198 galaxies belonging to these four groups. The brightest galaxies in each group contain between 100 and 1000 billion of stars, a property that makes them comparable

Analysis of mock quasar spectra of metal absorption lines in the proximity of formed galaxies in cosmological simulation is a highly promising for understanding the role of galaxies in IGM physics, or IGM physics in the role of galaxy formation in context of the cosmic web. Such analysis using neutral hydrogen in the cosmic web has literally revolutionized our understanding of the Lyman alpha forest. We are undertaking a wholesale approach to use powerful Lambda-CDM simulations to interpret absorption line data from redshift 1-3 starbursting galaxies e.g. Lyman break galaxies, etc) The data with which direct quantitative comparison is made are from the DEEP survey (Weiner et al.) and the collective work of Steidel et al. and collaborators. The simulations are performed using the Eulerian Gasdynamics plus N-body Adaptive Refinement Tree (ART) code, which has gas cell resolutions of 20-50 pc. Physical processes implemented in the code include realistic radiative cooling, star formation, metal enrichment and thermal feedback due to type II and type Ia supernovae. We quantitatively compare the spatial and kinematic distribution of HI, MgII, CIV, and OVI of absorption lines over a range of impact parameters for various simulated galaxies as a function of redshift, and discuss key insights for interpreting the underlying temperature, density, and ionization structure of the halo/cosmic-web interface, and the influence of galaxies on its chemical enrichment.

This is a user`s manual for dBASE IV. dBASE IV is a popular software application that can be used on your personal computer to help organize and maintain your database files. It is actually a set of tools with which you can create, organize, select and manipulate data in a simple yet effective manner. dBASE IV offers three methods of working with the product: (1) control center: (2) command line; and (3) programming.

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-fourth edition (WAIS-IV) and the Wechsler Memory Scale-fourth edition (WMS-IV) were co-developed to be used individually or as a combined battery of tests. The independent factor structure of each of the tests has been identified; however, the combined factor structure has yet to be determined. Confirmatory…

Effective interface between the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (IV-A) and the Child Support Enforcement (IV-D) programs is a key factor in assisting families in becoming self-sufficient, reducing welfare expenditures, and enforcing parental responsibility to support their children. Consequently, overcoming the procedural, technological,…

Effective interface between the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (IV-A) and the Child Support Enforcement (IV-D) programs is a key factor in assisting families in becoming self-sufficient, reducing welfare expenditures, and enforcing parental responsibility to support their children. Consequently, overcoming the procedural, technological,…

The reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM) was likely inhomogeneous and extended. By heating the IGM and photo-evaporating gas from the outskirts of galaxies, this process can have a dramatic impact on the growth of structures and suppress the observed number of dwarf galaxies. We tackle this problem using a tiered approach: combining parameterized results from suites of single-halo collapse simulations with large-scale models of reionization. We present an expression for the halo baryon fraction which is an explicit function of: (i) halo mass; (ii) an ionizing UV background (UVB) intensity; (iii) redshift; (iv) redshift at which the halo was exposed to a UVB. The latter has been shown to significantly impact the observed abundance of local dwarf galaxies. We then fold-in our parametrized results into large-scale simulations of reionization, such that the ionizing emissivity of galaxies depends on the local values of the reionization redshift and the UVB intensity, evolving in a self-consistent manner. We present a physically-motivated analytic expression for the resulting average minimum mass of star-forming galaxies, M_min, which can be readily used in modeling galaxy formation, as well as interpreting observations of dwarf galaxies at all redshifts.

The authors searched for isolated galaxies, pairs and groups of galaxies in the CfA survey (Huchra et al. 1983). It was assumed that the distances to galaxies are given by R = V/H sub o, where H sub o = 100 km s(exp -1) Mpc(exp -1) and R greater than 6 Mpc. The searching procedure is close to those, applied to find superclusters of galaxies (Kalinkov and Kuneva 1985, 1986). A sphere with fixed radius r (asterisk) is described around each galaxy. The mean spatial density in the sphere is m. Let G (sup 1) be any galaxy and G (sup 2) be its nearest neighbor at a distance R sub 2. If R sub 2 exceeds the 95 percent quintile in the distribution of the distances of the second neighbors, then G (sup 1) is an isolated galaxy. Let the midpoint of G (sup 1) and G (sup 2) be O sub 2 and r sub 2=R sub 2/2. For the volume V sub 2, defined with the radius r sub 2, the density D sub 2 less than k mu, the galaxy G (sup 2) is a single one and the procedure for searching for pairs and groups, beginning with this object is over and we have to pass to another object. Here the authors present the groups - isolated and nonisolated - with n greater than 3, found in the CfA survey in the Northern galactic hemisphere. The parameters used are k = 10 and r (asterisk) = 5 Mpc. Table 1 contains: (1) the group number, (2) the galaxy, nearest to the multiplet center, (3) multiplicity n, (4) the brightest galaxy if it is not listed in (2); (5) and (6) are R.A. and Dec. (1950), (7) - mean distance D in Mpc. Further there are the mean density rho (8) of the multiplet (galaxies Mpc (exp -3), (9) the density rho (asterisk) for r (asterisk) = 5 Mpc and (10) the density rho sub g for the group with its nearest neighbor. The parenthesized digits for densities in the last three columns are powers of ten.

This composite image traces star formation in progress. Young hot blue stars dominate the outer spiral arms of the galaxy, while the older stars congregate in the nuclear regions which appear yellow-green. Gases heated by hot young stars and shocks due to winds from massive stars and supernova explosions appear in pink, as revealed by the visible-light image of the galaxy.

Located nearly 7 million light years away, NGC 300 is a member of a nearby group of galaxies known as the Sculptor Group. It is a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way.

The recent observational evidence on the evolution of galaxies is reviewed and related to the framework of current ideas for galaxy formation from primordial density fluctuations. Recent strong evidence for the evolution of the stellar population in ellipticals is presented, as well as evidence that not all ellipticals behave as predicted by any simple theory. The status of counts of faint galaxies and the implications for the evolution of spirals is discussed, together with a discussion of recent work on the redshift distribution of galaxies at faint magnitudes and a spectroscopic investigation of the Butcher-Oemler blue cluster galaxies. Finally a new picture for the formation and evolution of disk galaxies which may explain most of the features of the Hubble sequence is outlined.

High signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra of 17 infrared-bright emission-line galaxies near the north ecliptic pole are presented. Reddening-corrected line ratios forbidden O III 5007/H-beta, N II 6583/H-alpha, S II (6716 + 6731)/H-alpha, and O I 6300/H-alpha are used to discriminate between candidate energy generation mechanisms in each galaxy. These criteria have frequently been applied to optically selected samples of galaxies in the past, but this is the first time they have been applied to a set of faint flux-limited infrared-selected objects. The analysis indicates the sample contains seven starburst galaxies and three (AGN). However, seven galaxies in the present sample elude the classification scheme based on these line ratios. It is concluded that a two-component (starburst plus AGN) model for energy generation is inadequate for infrared galaxies.

The National Coastal Condition Report IV (NCCR IV) is the fourth in a series of environmental assessments of U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The report includes assessments of all the nation’s estuaries in the contiguous 48 states and Puerto Rico, south-eastern Alaska, ...

Astronomers study distant galaxies by taking long exposures in deep survey fields. They choose fields that are empty of known sources, so that they are statistically representative of the Universe as a whole. Astronomers can compare the distribution of the detected galaxies in brightness, color, morphology and redshift to theoretical models, in order to puzzle out the processes of galaxy evolution. In 2004, the Hubble Space Telescope was pointed at a small, deep-survey field in the southern constellation Fornax for more than 500 hours of exposure time. The resulting Hubble Ultra-Deep Field could see the faintest and most distant galaxies that the telescope is capable of viewing. These galaxies emitted their light less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang. From the Ultra Deep Field and other galaxy surveys, astronomers have built up a history of star formation in the universe. the peak occurred about7 billion years ago, about half of the age of the current universe, then the number of stars that were forming was about 15 time the rate today. Going backward in time to when the very first starts and galaxies formed, the average star-formation rate should drop to zero. but when looking at the most distant galaxies in the Ultra Deep field, the star formation rate is still higher than it is today. The faintest galaxies seen by Hubble are not the first galaxies that formed in the early universe. To detect these galaxies NASA is planning the James Webb Space Telescope for launch in 2013. Webb will have a 6.5-meter diameter primary mirror, much bigger than Hubble's 2.4-meter primary, and will be optimized for infrared observations to see the highly redshifted galaxies.

Galaxy Evolution Explorer detected young, hot, high-mass stars, which are represented in blue, while populations of relatively older stars are shown as green dots. The bright yellow spot at the galaxy's center depicts a particularly dense population of old stars.

Swaths of red in the galaxy's disk indicate areas where Spitzer found cool, dusty regions where stars are forming. These stars are still shrouded by the cosmic clouds of dust and gas that collapsed to form them.

Located 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda is our largest nearby galactic neighbor. The galaxy's entire disk spans about 260,000 light-years, which means that a light beam would take 260,000 years to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy's disk is about 100,000 light-years across.

Nuclei of galaxies often show complicated density structures and perplexing kinematic signatures. In the past we have reported numerical experiments indicating a natural tendency for galaxies to show nuclei offset with respect to nearby isophotes and for the nucleus to have a radial velocity different from the galaxy's systemic velocity. Other experiments show normal mode oscillations in galaxies with large amplitudes. These oscillations do not damp appreciably over a Hubble time. The common thread running through all these is that galaxies often show evidence of ringing, bouncing, or sloshing around in unexpected ways, even though they have not been disturbed by any external event. Recent observational evidence shows yet another phenomenon indicating the dynamical complexity of central regions of galaxies: multiple cores (M31, Markarian 315 and 463 for example). These systems can hardly be static. We noted long-lived multiple core systems in galaxies in numerical experiments some years ago, and we have more recently followed up with a series of experiments on multiple core galaxies, starting with two cores. The relevant parameters are the energy in the orbiting clumps, their relative.masses, the (local) strength of the potential well representing the parent galaxy, and the number of cores. We have studied the dependence of the merger rates and the nature of the final merger product on these parameters. Individual cores survive much longer in stronger background potentials. Cores can survive for a substantial fraction of a Hubble time if they travel on reasonable orbits.

Dwarf galaxies are the most numerous galaxies in the universe, yet little is definitively understood about their formation and evolution. An evolutionary link has been proposed between dwarf irregular and dwarf elliptical galaxies by previous studies. The nature and existence of so-called dwarf spiral galaxies is still heavily debated. This project explores the properties of dwarf galaxies spanning a range in morphological type, luminosity, physical size, and surrounding environment (i.e. group / field galaxies). The goal of this project is to determine the range of exhibited properties for each type of dwarf galaxy using available ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared imaging and spectra. Similarities in visible, broadband colors support the proposed evolutionary link dwarf irregular and dwarf elliptical galaxies when the range of brightness of the samples is constrained to the fainter galaxies. Here, comparisons amongst a sub-sample of 59 dwarf irregulars, 12 dwarf ellipticals, and 29 dwarf spirals will be presented using archival ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared imaging. The effect of constraining the comparisons to the fainter sample members will be explored, as well as the effect of constraining the comparisons to the brighter sample members.

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found a spiral galaxy that may rotate in the opposite direction from what was expected.

A picture of the oddball galaxy is available at http://heritage.stsci.edu or http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2002/03 or http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc . It was taken in May 2001 by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The picture showed which side of galaxy NGC 4622 is closer to Earth; that information helped astronomers determine that the galaxy may be spinning clockwise. The image shows NGC 4622 and its outer pair of winding arms full of new stars, shown in blue.

Astronomers are puzzled by the clockwise rotation because of the direction the outer spiral arms are pointing. Most spiral galaxies have arms of gas and stars that trail behind as they turn. But this galaxy has two 'leading' outer arms that point toward the direction of the galaxy's clockwise rotation. NGC 4622 also has a 'trailing' inner arm that is wrapped around the galaxy in the opposite direction. Based on galaxy simulations, a team of astronomers had expected that the galaxy was turning counterclockwise.

NGC 4622 is a rare example of a spiral galaxy with arms pointing in opposite directions. Astronomers suspect this oddity was caused by the interaction of NGC 4622 with another galaxy. Its two outer arms are lopsided, meaning that something disturbed it. The new Hubble image suggests that NGC 4622 consumed a smaller companion galaxy.

Galaxies, which consist of stars, gas, and dust, rotate very slowly. Our Sun, one of many stars in our Milky Way galaxy, completes a circuit around the Milky Way every 250 million years. NGC 4622 lies 111 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Centaurus.

The science team, consisting of Drs. Ron Buta and Gene Byrd from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and Tarsh Freeman of Bevill State

We combine a semi-analytic model of galaxy evolution with constraints on circumstellar habitable zones and the distribution of terrestrial planets in order to probe the suitability of galaxies of different mass and type to host habitable planets, and how it evolves with time. We find that the fraction of stars with terrestrial planets in their habitable zone (known as habitability) depends only weakly on galaxy mass, with a maximum around 4 × 1010M⊙. We estimate that 0.7% of all stars in Milky Way-type galaxies to host a terrestrial planet within their habitable zone, consistent with the value derived from Kepler observations. On the other hand, the habitability of passive galaxies is slightly but systematically higher, unless we assume an unrealistically high sensitivity of planets to supernovae. We find that the overall habitability of galaxies has not changed significantly in the last ~8 Gyr, with most of the habitable planets in local disk galaxies having formed ~1.5 Gyr before our own solar system. Finally, we expect that ~1.4 ×109 planets similar to present-day Earth have existed so far in our galaxy.

We report the discovery of spiral galaxies that are as optically luminous as elliptical brightest cluster galaxies, with r-band monochromatic luminosity Lr = 8-14L* (4.3-7.5 × 1044 erg s-1). These super spiral galaxies are also giant and massive, with diameter D = 57-134 kpc and stellar mass Mstars = 0.3-3.4 × 1011M⊙. We find 53 super spirals out of a complete sample of 1616 SDSS galaxies with redshift z < 0.3 and Lr > 8L*. The closest example is found at z = 0.089. We use existing photometry to estimate their stellar masses and star formation rates (SFRs). The SDSS and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer colors are consistent with normal star-forming spirals on the blue sequence. However, the extreme masses and rapid SFRs of 5-65 M⊙ yr-1 place super spirals in a sparsely populated region of parameter space, above the star-forming main sequence of disk galaxies. Super spirals occupy a diverse range of environments, from isolation to cluster centers. We find four super spiral galaxy systems that are late-stage major mergers—a possible clue to their formation. We suggest that super spirals are a remnant population of unquenched, massive disk galaxies. They may eventually become massive lenticular galaxies after they are cut off from their gas supply and their disks fade.

Brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) play an important role in several fields of astronomical research. The literature includes many different methods and criteria for identifying the BCG in the cluster, such as choosing the brightest galaxy, the galaxy nearest the X-ray peak, or the galaxy with the most extended profile. Here we examine a sample of 75 clusters from the Archive of Chandra Cluster Entropy Profile Tables (ACCEPT) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), measuring masked magnitudes and profiles for BCG candidates in each cluster. We first identified galaxies by hand; in 15% of clusters at least one team member selected a different galaxy than the others.We also applied 6 other identification methods to the ACCEPT sample; in 30% of clusters at least one of these methods selected a different galaxy than the other methods. We then developed an algorithm that weighs brightness, profile, and proximity to the X-ray peak and centroid. This algorithm incorporates the advantages of by-hand identification (weighing multiple properties) and automated selection (repeatable and consistent). The BCG population chosen by the algorithm is more uniform in its properties than populations selected by other methods, particularly in the relation between absolute magnitude (a proxy for galaxy mass) and average gas temperature (a proxy for cluster mass). This work supported by a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and a Sid Jansma Summer Research Fellowship.

Here is a sampling of 15 ultraluminous infrared galaxies viewed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble's sharp vision reveals more complexity within these galaxies, which astronomers are interpreting as evidence of a multiple-galaxy pileup. These images, taken by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, are part of a three-year study of 123 galaxies within 3 billion light-years of Earth. The study was conducted in 1996, 1997, and 1999. False colors were assigned to these photos to enhance fine details within these coalescing galaxies. Credits: NASA, Kirk Borne (Raytheon and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.), Luis Colina (Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria, Spain), and Howard Bushouse and Ray Lucas (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.)

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) findsgalaxies whose Tolman dimming exceeds 10 mag. Could evolution alone explain these as our ancestor galaxies or could they be representatives of quite a different dynasty whose descendants are no longer prominent today? We explore the latter hypothesis and argue that surface brightness selection effects naturally bring into focus quite different dynasties from different redshifts. Thus, the HST z = 7 galaxies could be examples of galaxies whose descendants are both too small and too choked with dust to be recognizable in our neighbourhood easily today. Conversely, the ancestors of the Milky Way and its obvious neighbours would have completely sunk below the sky at z > 1.2, unless they were more luminous in the past, although their diffused light could account for the missing re-ionization flux. This Succeeding Prominent Dynasties Hypothesis (SPDH) fits the existing observations both naturally and well even without evolution, including the bizarre distributions of galaxy surface brightness found in deep fields, the angular size ˜(1 + z)-1 law, 'downsizing' which turns out to be an 'illusion' in the sense that it does not imply evolution, 'infant mortality', that is, the discrepancy between stars born and stars seen, the existence of 'red nuggets', and finally the recently discovered and unexpected excess of quasar absorption line damped Lyα systems at high redshift. If galaxies were not significantly brighter in the past and the SPDH were true, then a large proportion of galaxies could remain sunk from sight, possibly at all redshifts, and these sunken galaxies could supply the missing re-ionization flux. We show that fishing these sunken galaxies out of the sky by their optical emissions alone is practically impossible, even when they are nearby. More ingenious methods are needed to detect them. It follows that disentangling galaxy evolution through studying ever higher redshift galaxies may be a forlorn hope because one could

MaNGA is a new survey that will begin in August 2014 as part of SDSS-IV with the aim of obtaining integral-field spectroscopy for an unprecedented sample of 10,000 nearby galaxies. MaNGA's key goals are to understand the "life cycle" of present day galaxies from imprinted clues of their birth and assembly, through their ongoing growth via star formation and merging, to their death from quenching at late times. To achieve these goals, MaNGA will channel the impressive capabilities of the SDSS-III BOSS spectrographs in a fundamentally new direction by marshaling the unique power of 2D spectroscopy. MaNGA will deploy 17 pluggable Integral Field Units (IFUs) made by grouping fibers into hexagonal bundles ranging from 19 to 127 fibers each. The spectra obtained by MaNGA will cover the wavelength range 3600-10,000 Angstroms (with a velocity resolution of ~ 60 km/s) and will characterize the internal composition and the dynamical state of a sample of 10,000 galaxies with stellar masses greater than 10^9 Msun and an average redshift of z ~ 0.03. Such IFU observations enable a leap forward because they provide an added dimension to the information available for each galaxy. MaNGA will provide two-dimensional maps of stellar velocity and velocity dispersion, mean stellar age and star formation history, stellar metallicity, element abundance ratio, stellar mass surface density, ionized gas velocity, ionized gas metallicity, star formation rate, and dust extinction for a statistically powerful sample. This legacy dataset will address urgent questions in our understanding of galaxy formation, including 1) The formation history of galaxy subcomponents, including the disk, bulge, and dark matter halo, 2) The nature of present-day galaxy growth via merging and gas accretion, and 3) The processes responsible for terminating star formation in galaxies. Finally, MaNGA will also play a vital role in the coming era of advanced IFU instrumentation, serving as the low-z anchor for

The masses of the black holes powering quasars represent a fundamental parameter of active galaxies. Estimates of quasar black hole masses using single-epoch spectra are quite uncertain, and require quantitative improvement. We recently identified a correction for C IV λ1549-based scaling relationships used to estimate quasar black hole masses that relies on the continuum-subtracted peak flux ratio of the ultraviolet emission-line blend Si IV + O IV] (the λ1400 feature) to that of C IV. This parameter correlates with the suite of associated quasar spectral properties collectively known as `Eigenvector 1' (EV1). Here we use a sample of 85 quasars with quasi-simultaneous optical-ultraviolet spectrophotometry to demonstrate how biases in the average EV1 properties can create systematic biases in C IV-based black hole mass scaling relationships. This effect results in nearly an order of magnitude moving from objects with small IV>, which have overestimated black hole masses, to objects with large IV>, which have underestimated values. We show that existing reverberation-mapped samples of quasars with ultraviolet spectra - used to calibrate C IV-based scaling relationships - have significant EV1 biases that result in predictions of black hole masses nearly 50 per cent too high for the average quasar. We offer corrections and suggestions to account for this bias.

I present the design and execution of a new survey to obtain resolved spectroscopy for 10,000 nearby galaxies called MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory). One of three core programs in the 6-year SDSS-IV project that began on July 1st, 2014, MaNGA will deploy 17 fiber-bundle IFUs across the Sloan 2.5m Telescope's 3 degree field-of-view, targeting a mass-selected sample with a median redshift of 0.03, typical spatial resolution of 1-2 kpc, and a per-fiber signal-to-noise ratio of 4-8 in the outskirts of target galaxies. For each galaxy in the sample, MaNGA will provide maps and measured gradients of the composition and dynamics of both stars and gas. Early results highlight MaNGA's potential to shed light on the ionization and chemical enrichment of gas in galaxies, spatial patterns in their star formation histories, and the internal makeup of stellar populations. MaNGA's unprecedented data set will not only provide powerful new insight on galaxy formation and evolution but will serve as a valuable benchmark for future high-z observations from large telescopes as well as space-based facilities.

There is an ongoing argument regarding galaxies, like there is regarding children, of whether the final outcome is driven primarily by nature or nurture. In the case of galaxies, the total mass plays the role of genetics (nature) and the number of nearby galaxies plays the role of family life (nurture). Untangling the role of each has been particularly difficult for galaxies because the mass of a galaxy is closely tied to its environment.

With the availability of large integral field unit (IFU) spectral surveys of nearby galaxies, there is now the potential to extract spectral information from across the bulges and discs of galaxies in a systematic way. This information can address questions such as how these components built up with time, how galaxies evolve and whether their evolution depends on other properties of the galaxy such as its mass or environment. We present bulge-disc decomposition of IFU data cubes (BUDDI), a new approach to fit the two-dimensional light profiles of galaxies as a function of wavelength to extract the spectral properties of these galaxies' discs and bulges. The fitting is carried out using GALFITM, a modified form of GALFIT which can fit multiwaveband images simultaneously. The benefit of this technique over traditional multiwaveband fits is that the stellar populations of each component can be constrained using knowledge over the whole image and spectrum available. The decomposition has been developed using commissioning data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey with redshifts z < 0.14 and coverage of at least 1.5 effective radii for a spatial resolution of 2.5 arcsec full width at half-maximum and field of view of > 22 arcsec, but can be applied to any IFU data of a nearby galaxy with similar or better spatial resolution and coverage. We present an overview of the fitting process, the results from our tests, and we finish with example stellar population analyses of early-type galaxies from the MaNGA survey to give an indication of the scientific potential of applying bulge-disc decomposition to IFU data.

Reliable inference on galaxy morphology from quantitative analysis of ensemble galaxy images is challenging but essential ingredient in studying galaxy formation and evolution, utilizing current and forthcoming large scale surveys. To put galaxy image decomposition problem in broader context of statistical inference problem and derive a rigorous statistical confidence levels of the inference, I developed a novel galaxy image decomposition tool, GALPHAT (GALaxy PHotometric ATtributes) that exploits recent developments in Bayesian computation to provide full posterior probability distributions and reliable confidence intervals for all parameters. I will highlight the significant improvements in galaxy image decomposition using GALPHAT, over the conventional model fitting algorithms and introduce the GALPHAT potential to infer the statistical distribution of galaxy morphological structures, using ensemble posteriors of galaxy morphological parameters from the entire galaxy population that one studies.

Major Observing Programme Leads to New Theory of Galaxy Formation Summary Most present-day large galaxies are spirals, presenting a disc surrounding a central bulge. Famous examples are our own Milky Way or the Andromeda Galaxy. When and how did these spiral galaxies form? Why do a great majority of them present a massive central bulge? An international team of astronomers [1] presents new convincing answers to these fundamental questions. For this, they rely on an extensive dataset of observations of galaxies taken with several space- and ground-based telescopes. In particular, they used over a two-year period, several instruments on ESO's Very Large Telescope. Among others, their observations reveal that roughly half of the present-day stars were formed in the period between 8,000 million and 4,000 million years ago, mostly in episodic burst of intense star formation occurring in Luminous Infrared Galaxies. From this and other evidence, the astronomers devised an innovative scenario, dubbed the "spiral rebuilding". They claim that most present-day spiral galaxies are the results of one or several merger events. If confirmed, this new scenario could revolutionise the way astronomers think galaxies formed. PR Photo 02a/05: Luminosity - Oxygen Abundance Relation for Galaxies (VLT) PR Photo 02b/05: The Spiral Rebuilding Scenario A fleet of instruments How and when did galaxies form? How and when did stars form in these island universes? These questions are still posing a considerable challenge to present-day astronomers. Front-line observational results obtained with a fleet of ground- and space-based telescopes by an international team of astronomers [1] provide new insights into these fundamental issues. For this, they embarked on an ambitious long-term study at various wavelengths of 195 galaxies with a redshift [2] greater than 0.4, i.e. located more than 4000 million light-years away. These galaxies were studied using ESO's Very Large Telescope, as well as the

JSPAM models galaxy collisions using a restricted n-body approach to speed up computation. Instead of using a softened point-mass potential, the software supports a modified version of the three component potential created by Hernquist (1994, ApJS 86, 389). Although spherically symmetric gravitationally potentials and a Gaussian model for the bulge are used to increase computational efficiency, the potential mimics that of a fully consistent n-body model of a galaxy. Dynamical friction has been implemented in the code to improve the accuracy of close approaches between galaxies. Simulations using this code using thousands of particles over the typical interaction times of a galaxy interaction take a few seconds on modern desktop workstations, making it ideal for rapidly prototyping the dynamics of colliding galaxies. Extensive testing of the code has shown that it produces nearly identical tidal features to those from hierarchical tree codes such as Gadget but using a fraction of the computational resources. This code was used in the Galaxy Zoo: Mergers project and is very well suited for automated fitting of galaxy mergers with automated pattern fitting approaches such as genetic algorithms. Java and Fortran versions of the code are available.

Existing HST observations of nearby galaxies comprise a sparse and highly non-uniform archive, making comprehensive comparative studies among galaxies essentially impossible. We propose to secure HST's lasting impact on the study of nearby galaxies by undertaking a systematic, complete, and carefully crafted imaging survey of ALL galaxies in the Local Universe outside the Local Group. The resulting images will allow unprecedented measurements of: {1} the star formation history {SFH} of a >100 Mpc^3 volume of the Universe with a time resolution of Delta[log{t}]=0.25; {2} correlations between spatially resolved SFHs and environment; {3} the structure and properties of thick disks and stellar halos; and {4} the color distributions, sizes, and specific frequencies of globular and disk clusters as a function of galaxy mass and environment. To reach these goals, we will use a combination of wide-field tiling and pointed deep imaging to obtain uniform data on all 72 galaxies within a volume-limited sample extending to 3.5 Mpc, with an extension to the M81 group. For each galaxy, the wide-field imaging will cover out to 1.5 times the optical radius and will reach photometric depths of at least 2 magnitudes below the tip of the red giant branch throughout the limits of the survey volume. One additional deep pointing per galaxy will reach SNR 10 for red clump stars, sufficient to recover the ancient SFH from the color-magnitude diagram. This proposal will produce photometric information for 100 million stars {comparable to the number in the SDSS survey} and uniform multi-color images of half a square degree of sky. The resulting archive will establish the fundamental optical database for nearby galaxies, in preparation for the shift of high-resolution imaging to the near-infrared.

The abundance and strength of disk components in elliptical galaxies are investigated by studying the photometric properties of models containing a spheroidal r exp 1/4-law bulge and a weak exponential disk. Pointed isophotes are observed in a substantial fraction of elliptical galaxies. If these isophote distortions are interpreted in the framework of the present models, then the statistics of observed samples suggest that almost all radio-weak ellipticals could have disks containing roughly 20 percent of the light. It is shown that the E5 galaxy NGC 4660 has the photometric signatures of a disk containing a third of the light. 30 refs.

Six spectacular spiral galaxies are seen in a clear new light in images from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The pictures were taken in infrared light, using the impressive power of the HAWK-I camera, and will help astronomers understand how the remarkable spiral patterns in galaxies form and evolve. HAWK-I [1] is one of the newest and most powerful cameras on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). It is sensitive to infrared light, which means that much of the obscuring dust in the galaxies' spiral arms becomes transparent to its detectors. Compared to the earlier, and still much-used, VLT infrared camera ISAAC, HAWK-I has sixteen times as many pixels to cover a much larger area of sky in one shot and, by using newer technology than ISAAC, it has a greater sensitivity to faint infrared radiation [2]. Because HAWK-I can study galaxies stripped bare of the confusing effects of dust and glowing gas it is ideal for studying the vast numbers of stars that make up spiral arms. The six galaxies are part of a study of spiral structure led by Preben Grosbøl at ESO. These data were acquired to help understand the complex and subtle ways in which the stars in these systems form into such perfect spiral patterns. The first image shows NGC 5247, a spiral galaxy dominated by two huge arms, located 60-70 million light-years away. The galaxy lies face-on towards Earth, thus providing an excellent view of its pinwheel structure. It lies in the zodiacal constellation of Virgo (the Maiden). The galaxy in the second image is Messier 100, also known as NGC 4321, which was discovered in the 18th century. It is a fine example of a "grand design" spiral galaxy - a class of galaxies with very prominent and well-defined spiral arms. About 55 million light-years from Earth, Messier 100 is part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and lies in the constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair, named after the ancient Egyptian queen Berenice II). The third

New observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope have, for the first time, provided direct evidence that young galaxies can grow by sucking in the cool gas around them and using it as fuel for the formation of many new stars. In the first few billion years after the Big Bang the mass of a typical galaxy increased dramatically and understanding why this happened is one of the hottest problems in modern astrophysics. The results appear in the 14 October issue of the journal Nature. The first galaxies formed well before the Universe was one billion years old and were much smaller than the giant systems - including the Milky Way - that we see today. So somehow the average galaxy size has increased as the Universe has evolved. Galaxies often collide and then merge to form larger systems and this process is certainly an important growth mechanism. However, an additional, gentler way has been proposed. A European team of astronomers has used ESO's Very Large Telescope to test this very different idea - that young galaxies can also grow by sucking in cool streams of the hydrogen and helium gas that filled the early Universe and forming new stars from this primitive material. Just as a commercial company can expand either by merging with other companies, or by hiring more staff, young galaxies could perhaps also grow in two different ways - by merging with other galaxies or by accreting material. The team leader, Giovanni Cresci (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri) says: "The new results from the VLT are the first direct evidence that the accretion of pristine gas really happened and was enough to fuel vigorous star formation and the growth of massive galaxies in the young Universe." The discovery will have a major impact on our understanding of the evolution of the Universe from the Big Bang to the present day. Theories of galaxy formation and evolution may have to be re-written. The group began by selecting three very distant galaxies to see if they could find evidence

Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA), one of three core programs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV, is an integral-field spectroscopic survey of roughly 10,000 nearby galaxies. It employs dithered observations using 17 hexagonal bundles of 2″ fibers to obtain resolved spectroscopy over a wide wavelength range of 3600-10300 Å. To map the internal variations within each galaxy, we need to perform accurate spectral surface photometry, which is to calibrate the specific intensity at every spatial location sampled by each individual aperture element of the integral field unit. The calibration must correct only for the flux loss due to atmospheric throughput and the instrument response, but not for losses due to the finite geometry of the fiber aperture. This requires the use of standard star measurements to strictly separate these two flux loss factors (throughput versus geometry), a difficult challenge with standard single-fiber spectroscopy techniques due to various practical limitations. Therefore, we developed a technique for spectral surface photometry using multiple small fiber-bundles targeting standard stars simultaneously with galaxy observations. We discuss the principles of our approach and how they compare to previous efforts, and we demonstrate the precision and accuracy achieved. MaNGA's relative calibration between the wavelengths of Hα and Hβ has an rms of 1.7%, while that between [N ii] λ6583 and [O ii] λ3727 has an rms of 4.7%. Using extinction-corrected star formation rates and gas-phase metallicities as an illustration, this level of precision guarantees that flux calibration errors will be sub-dominant when estimating these quantities. The absolute calibration is better than 5% for more than 89% of MaNGA's wavelength range.

Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA), one of three core programs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV, is an integral-field spectroscopic survey of roughly 10,000 nearby galaxies. It employs dithered observations using 17 hexagonal bundles of 2″ fibers to obtain resolved spectroscopy over a wide wavelength range of 3600–10300 Å. To map the internal variations within each galaxy, we need to perform accurate spectral surface photometry, which is to calibrate the specific intensity at every spatial location sampled by each individual aperture element of the integral field unit. The calibration must correct only for the flux loss due to atmospheric throughput and the instrument response, but not for losses due to the finite geometry of the fiber aperture. This requires the use of standard star measurements to strictly separate these two flux loss factors (throughput versus geometry), a difficult challenge with standard single-fiber spectroscopy techniques due to various practical limitations. Therefore, we developed a technique for spectral surface photometry using multiple small fiber-bundles targeting standard stars simultaneously with galaxy observations. We discuss the principles of our approach and how they compare to previous efforts, and we demonstrate the precision and accuracy achieved. MaNGA's relative calibration between the wavelengths of Hα and Hβ has an rms of 1.7%, while that between [N ii] λ6583 and [O ii] λ3727 has an rms of 4.7%. Using extinction-corrected star formation rates and gas-phase metallicities as an illustration, this level of precision guarantees that flux calibration errors will be sub-dominant when estimating these quantities. The absolute calibration is better than 5% for more than 89% of MaNGA's wavelength range.

Herschel Space Observatory photometry and extensive multiwavelength follow-up have revealed that the powerful radio galaxy (PRG) 3C 220.3 at z = 0.685 acts as a gravitational lens for a background submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 2.221. At an observed wavelength of 1 mm, the SMG is lensed into three distinct images. In the observed near infrared, these images are connected by an arc of ~1''.8 radius forming an Einstein half-ring centered near the radio galaxy. In visible light, only the arc is apparent. 3C 220.3 is the only known instance of strong galaxy-scale lensing by a PRG not located in a galaxy cluster and therefore it offers the potential to probe the dark matter content of the radio galaxy host. Lens modeling rejects a single lens, but two lenses centered on the radio galaxy host A and a companion B, separated by 1''.5, provide a fit consistent with all data and reveal faint candidates for the predicted fourth and fifth images. The model does not require an extended common dark matter halo, consistent with the absence of extended bright X-ray emission on our Chandra image. The projected dark matter fractions within the Einstein radii of A (1''.02) and B (0''.61) are about 0.4 ± 0.3 and 0.55 ± 0.3. The mass to i-band light ratios of A and B, M/Li ˜ 8 +/- 4 M⊙ L⊙ -1, appear comparable to those of radio-quiet lensing galaxies at the same redshift in the CfA-Arizona Space Telescope LEns Survey, Lenses Structure and Dynamics, and Strong Lenses in the Legacy Survey samples. The lensed SMG is extremely bright with observed f(250 μm) = 440 mJy owing to a magnification factor μ ~ 10. The SMG spectrum shows luminous, narrow C IV λ1549 Å emission, revealing that the SMG houses a hidden quasar in addition to a violent starburst. Multicolor image reconstruction of the SMG indicates a bipolar morphology of the emitted ultraviolet (UV) light suggestive of cones through which UV light escapes a dust-enshrouded nucleus.

I present an overview of the recent star formation activity in the outer disks of spiral galaxies, from the observational standpoint, with emphasis on the gas content, the star formation law, the metallicity and the stellar populations.

New models are presented for the interpretation of recent counts of galaxies to 24th magnitude, and predictions are shown to 28th magnitude for future comparison with data from the Space Telescope. The results supersede earlier, more schematic models by the author. Tyson and Jarvis found in their counts a ''local'' density enhancement at 17th magnitude, on comparison with the earlier models; the excess is no longer significant when a more realistic mixture of galaxy colors is used. Bruzual and Kron's conclusion that Kron's counts show evidence for evolution at faint magnitudes is confirmed, and it is predicted that some 23d magnitude galaxies have redshifts greater than unity. These may include spheroidal systems, elliptical galaxies, and the bulges of early-type spirals and S0's, seen during their primeval rapid star formation.

The arguments for and against the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) program are discussed. Based on apparently reasonable assumptions regarding the number of civilizations likely to exist in the Galaxy, it seems that ten million years would be sufficient time for an ambitious group of aliens to colonize the Galaxy; since no concrete evidence of aliens has turned up, the assumptions have to be reconsidered. The views of Sagan, Hart, Drake and a number of other researchers are noted.

We report the discovery of spiral galaxies that are as optically luminous as elliptical brightest cluster galaxies, with r-band monochromatic luminosity L{sub r} = 8–14L* (4.3–7.5 × 10{sup 44} erg s{sup −1}). These super spiral galaxies are also giant and massive, with diameter D = 57–134 kpc and stellar mass M{sub stars} = 0.3–3.4 × 10{sup 11}M{sub ⊙}. We find 53 super spirals out of a complete sample of 1616 SDSS galaxies with redshift z 8L*. The closest example is found at z = 0.089. We use existing photometry to estimate their stellar masses and star formation rates (SFRs). The SDSS and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer colors are consistent with normal star-forming spirals on the blue sequence. However, the extreme masses and rapid SFRs of 5–65 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} place super spirals in a sparsely populated region of parameter space, above the star-forming main sequence of disk galaxies. Super spirals occupy a diverse range of environments, from isolation to cluster centers. We find four super spiral galaxy systems that are late-stage major mergers—a possible clue to their formation. We suggest that super spirals are a remnant population of unquenched, massive disk galaxies. They may eventually become massive lenticular galaxies after they are cut off from their gas supply and their disks fade.

We present a full analysis of the Probing Evolution And Reionization Spectroscopically (PEARS) slitless grism spectroscopic data obtained vl'ith the Advanced Camera for Surveys on HST. PEARS covers fields within both the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) North and South fields, making it ideal as a random surveY of galaxies, as well as the availability of a wide variety of ancillary observations to support the spectroscopic results. Using the PEARS data we are able to identify star forming galaxies within the redshift volume 0 < z < 1.5. Star forming regions in the PEARS survey are pinpointed independently of the host galaxy. This method allOW8 us to detect the presence of multiple emission line regions (ELRs) within a single galaxy. 1162 [OII], [OIII] and/or H-alpha emission lines have been identified in the PEARS sample of approx 906 galaxies down to a limiting flux of approx 10 - 18 erg/s/sq cm . The ELRs have also been compared to the properties of the host galaxy, including morphology, luminosity, and mass. From this analysis we find three key results: 1) The computed line luminosities show evidence of a flattening in the luminosity function with increasing redshift; 2) The star forming systems show evidence of disturbed morphologies, with star formation occurring predominantly within one effective (half-light) radius. However, the morphologies show no correlation with host stellar mass; and 3) The number density of star forming galaxies with M(*) >= 10(exp 9) Solar M decreases by an order of magnitude at z<=0.5 relative to the number at 0.5 < z < 0.9 in support of the argument for galaxy downsizing.

We will observe the unusual warped disk galaxy known as the Integral Sign Galaxy, UGC 3697, with a small two-position WFPC2 mosaic. Observations will be obtained in three broad band filters and the resulting image will be released on the 19th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope on ~April 24, 2009. Multidrizzled mosaics will be made available through the archive.

Recent years have seen tremendous progress in finding and charactering star-forming galaxies at high redshifts across the electromagnetic spectrum, giving us a more complete picture of how galaxies evolve, both in terms of their stellar and gas content, as well as the growth of their central supermassive black holes. A wealth of studies now demonstrate that star formation peaked at roughly half the age of the Universe and drops precariously as we look back to very early times, and that their central monsters apparently growth with them. At the highest-redshifts, we are pushing the boundaries via deep surveys at optical, X-ray, radio wavelengths, and more recently using gamma-ray bursts. I will review some of our accomplishments and failures. Telescope have enabled Lyman break galaxies to be robustly identified, but the UV luminosity function and star formation rate density of this population at z = 6 - 8 seems to be much lower than at z = 2 - 4. High escape fractions and a large contribution from faint galaxies below our current detection limits would be required for star-forming galaxies to reionize the Universe. We have also found that these galaxies have blue rest-frame UV colours, which might indicate lower dust extinction at z > 5. There has been some spectroscopic confirmation of these Lyman break galaxies through Lyman-α emission, but the fraction of galaxies where we see this line drops at z > 7, perhaps due to the onset of the Gunn-Peterson effect (where the IGM is opaque to Lyman-α).

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-fourth edition (WAIS-IV) and the Wechsler Memory Scale-fourth edition (WMS-IV) were co-developed to be used individually or as a combined battery of tests. The independent factor structure of each of the tests has been identified; however, the combined factor structure has yet to be determined. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to the WAIS-IV/WMS-IV Adult battery (i.e., age 16-69 years) co-norming sample (n = 900) to test 13 measurement models. The results indicated that two models fit the data equally well. One model is a seven-factor solution without a hierarchical general ability factor: Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Processing Speed, Auditory Working Memory, Visual Working Memory, Auditory Memory, and Visual Memory. The second model is a five-factor model composed of Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Processing Speed, Working Memory, and Memory with a hierarchical general ability factor. Interpretative implications for each model are discussed.

The glomerular basement membrane (GBM) is a vital part of the blood-urine filtration barrier in the kidneys. In healthy GBMs, the main tension-resisting component is alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV)alpha5(IV) type IV collagen, but in some diseases it is replaced by other collagen IV isoforms. As a result, the GBM becomes leaky and disorganized, ultimately resulting in kidney failure. Our goal is to understanding the biomechanical aspects of the alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV)alpha5(IV) chains and how their absence could be responsible for (1) the initial injury to the GBM and (2) progression to kidney failure. A combination of experiments and computational models were designed for that purpose. A model basement membrane was used to compare experimentally the distensibility of tissues with the alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV)alpha5(IV) chains present and missing. The experiments showed basement membranes containing alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV)alpha5(IV) chains were less distensible. It has been postulated that the higher level of lateral cross-linking (supercoiling) in the alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV)alpha5(IV) networks contributes additional strength/stability to basement membranes. In a computational model of supercoiled networks, we found that supercoiling greatly increased the stiffness of collagen IV networks but only minimally decreased the permeability, which is well suited for the needs of the GBM. It is also known that the alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV)alpha5(IV) networks are more protected from enzymatic degradation, and we explored their significance in GBM remodeling. Our simulations showed that the more protected network was needed to prevent the system from entering a dangerous feedback cycle due to autoregulation mechanisms in the kidneys. Overall, the work adds to the evidence of biomechanical differences between the alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV)alpha5(IV) networks and other collagen IV networks, points to supercoiling as the main source of biomechanical differences, discusses the suitability of alpha3(IV)alpha4(IV

Atlas Image mosaic, covering 34' x 34' on the sky, of the Coma cluster, aka Abell 1656. This is a particularly rich cluster of individual galaxies (over 1000 members), most prominently the two giant ellipticals, NGC 4874 (right) and NGC 4889 (left). The remaining members are mostly smaller ellipticals, but spiral galaxies are also evident in the 2MASS image. The cluster is seen toward the constellation Coma Berenices, but is actually at a distance of about 100 Mpc (330 million light years, or a redshift of 0.023) from us. At this distance, the cluster is in what is known as the 'Hubble flow,' or the overall expansion of the Universe. As such, astronomers can measure the Hubble Constant, or the universal expansion rate, based on the distance to this cluster. Large, rich clusters, such as Coma, allow astronomers to measure the 'missing mass,' i.e., the matter in the cluster that we cannot see, since it gravitationally influences the motions of the member galaxies within the cluster. The near-infrared maps the overall luminous mass content of the member galaxies, since the light at these wavelengths is dominated by the more numerous older stellar populations. Galaxies, as seen by 2MASS, look fairly smooth and homogeneous, as can be seen from the Hubble 'tuning fork' diagram of near-infrared galaxy morphology. Image mosaic by S. Van Dyk (IPAC).

Standard models fail to explain the existence of galaxies. In contrast, galaxies are inherently explained and even predicted by older Aether theories in which Aether filled the space between particles. Galaxies would be vortexes in the Aether; the vortexes generate gravitational forces that trap matter within them. Aether theories were rejected, however, because they failed to explain experimental results regarding the Earth-Aether boundary. In the hypervortex model, hyperfluid fills all of space, including the space occupied by particles. With such hyperfluid, there is no boundary problem. The hyperfluid is continuous everywhere and all of the historical experimental challenges to fluid models become inherently solved. In the model, galaxies are our observation of very large hypervortexes in the hyperfluid while particles are our observation of the smallest of hypervortexes. A unifying Lagrangian for has been created the hypervortex model that generates correct forms for gravity and electromagnetics and the framework for full integration of particle theory. Mass orbits around galactic centers because galactic hypervortexes generate gravitational forces with r =0 at the galactic center. The quantity of matter in a galaxy may depend on the quantity of turbulence initially in the galactic hypervortex; such turbulence would generate the smaller hypervortexes within the galaxy that we observe as particles. The gravitational singularity at r =0 disappears, which resolves issues related to black holes. Gary.warren@saic.com; garywarren@cox.net; hypervortex.com

Dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies, with blue absolute magnitudes typically fainter than M(sub B) = -16, are the most numerous type of galaxy in the nearby universe. Tremendous advances have been made over the past several years in delineating the properties of both Local Group satellite dE's and the large dE populations of nearby clusters. We review some of these advances, with particular attention to how well currently availiable data can constrain (a) models for the formation of dE's, (b) the physical and evolutionary connections between different types of galaxies that overlap in the same portion of the mass-spectrum of galaxies, (c) the contribution of dE's to the galaxy luminosity functions in clusters and the field, (d) the star-forming histories of dE's and their possible contribution to faint galaxy counts, and (e) the clustering properties of dE's. In addressing these issues, we highlight the extent to which selection effects temper these constraints, and outline areas where new data would be particularly valuable.

The MAX IV Laboratory is currently the synchrotron X-ray source with the beam of highest brilliance. Four imaging beamlines are in construction or in the project phase. Their common characteristic will be the high acquisition rates of phase-enhanced images. This high data flow will be managed at the local computing cluster jointly with the Swedish National Computing Infrastructure. A common image reconstruction and analysis platform is being designed to offer reliable quantification of the multidimensional images acquired at all the imaging beamlines at MAX IV.

One of the major challenges for modern supernova surveys is identifying the galaxy that hosted each explosion. Is there an accurate and efficient way to do this that avoids investing significant human resources?Why Identify Hosts?One problem in host galaxy identification. Here, the supernova lies between two galaxies but though the centroid of the galaxy on the right is closer in angular separation, this may be a distant background galaxy that is not actually near the supernova. [Gupta et al. 2016]Supernovae are a critical tool for making cosmological predictions that help us to understand our universe. But supernova cosmology relies on accurately identifying the properties of the supernovae including their redshifts. Since spectroscopic followup of supernova detections often isnt possible, we rely on observations of the supernova host galaxies to obtain redshifts.But how do we identify which galaxy hosted a supernova? This seems like a simple problem, but there are many complicating factors a seemingly nearby galaxy could be a distant background galaxy, for instance, or a supernovas host could be too faint to spot.The authors algorithm takes into account confusion, a measure of how likely the supernova is to be mismatched. In these illustrations of low (left) and high (right) confusion, the supernova is represented by a blue star, and the green circles represent possible host galaxies. [Gupta et al. 2016]Turning to AutomationBefore the era of large supernovae surveys, searching for host galaxies was done primarily by visual inspection. But current projects like the Dark Energy Surveys Supernova Program is finding supernovae by the thousands, and the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will likely discover hundreds of thousands. Visual inspection will not be possible in the face of this volume of data so an accurate and efficient automated method is clearly needed!To this end, a team of scientists led by Ravi Gupta (Argonne National Laboratory) has recently

We demonstrate the feasibility and potential of using large integral field spectroscopic surveys to investigate the prevalence of galactic-scale outflows in the local Universe. Using integral field data from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) and the Wide Field Spectrograph, we study the nature of an isolated disc galaxy, SDSS J090005.05+000446.7 (z = 0.053 86). In the integral field data sets, the galaxy presents skewed line profiles changing with position in the galaxy. The skewed line profiles are caused by different kinematic components overlapping in the line-of-sight direction. We perform spectral decomposition to separate the line profiles in each spatial pixel as combinations of (1) a narrow kinematic component consistent with H II regions, (2) a broad kinematic component consistent with shock excitation, and (3) an intermediate component consistent with shock excitation and photoionization mixing. The three kinematic components have distinctly different velocity fields, velocity dispersions, line ratios, and electron densities. We model the line ratios, velocity dispersions, and electron densities with our MAPPINGS IV shock and photoionization models, and we reach remarkable agreement between the data and the models. The models demonstrate that the different emission line properties are caused by major galactic outflows that introduce shock excitation in addition to photoionization by star-forming activities. Interstellar shocks embedded in the outflows shock-excite and compress the gas, causing the elevated line ratios, velocity dispersions, and electron densities observed in the broad kinematic component. We argue from energy considerations that, with the lack of a powerful active galactic nucleus, the outflows are likely to be driven by starburst activities. Our results set a benchmark of the type of analysis that can be achieved by the SAMI Galaxy Survey on large numbers of galaxies.

During Cycle 7 HST observations, we have obtained NICMOS H-band images of faint field galaxies for which both HST morphological information (in V and/or I) and spectroscopic redshifts are available. The purpose of the NICMOS observation is to provide their morphology in rest frame NIR wavelengths (8000 - 16000 Å), where the effect of dust extinction is less severe, and to obtain their near infrared (NIR) colors. The objects in our field are partly contained in the Groth Strip being studied in detail by the DEEP team. In addition, we have made use of a software package called GIM2D (Simard et al. 2001). This package is designed to perform detailed 2-dimensional decompositions for images of distant galaxies. Using this software, we have obtained structural parameters for the objects in the H-band to complement those parameters in V and I. We will present: i) color gradients inside elliptical galaxies to test models of their formation; ii) the effect of dust extinction on the properties of field galaxies at 0 < z < 1; iii) evolution of V-H, and V-I colors of bulges as well as the B/T ratio of spiral galaxies as a function of redshift; iv) morphological k-correction. The median redshift of our sample is z ~ 0.5 and this corresponds to about one half of the current age of the universe. This work is supported by the STScI grant GO-07895.02-96A.

We present new constraints on the star formation histories of the ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, using deep photometry obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). A galaxy class recently discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the UFDs appear to be an extension of the classical dwarf spheroidals to low luminosities, offering a new front in efforts to understand the missing satellite problem. They are the least luminous, most dark-matter-dominated, and least chemically evolved galaxies known. Our HST survey of six UFDs seeks to determine if these galaxies are true fossils from the early universe. We present here the preliminary analysis of three UFD galaxies: Hercules, Leo IV, and Ursa Major I. Classical dwarf spheroidals of the Local Group exhibit extended star formation histories, but these three Milky Way satellites are at least as old as the ancient globular cluster M92, with no evidence for intermediate-age populations. Their ages also appear to be synchronized to within {approx}1 Gyr of each other, as might be expected if their star formation was truncated by a global event, such as reionization.

I describe a new integral field spectroscopic survey called MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory). One of three core programs in the 6-year SDSS-IV project† that began on July 1st, 2014, MaNGA will deploy 17 fiber-bundle IFUs across the Sloan 2.5m Telescope's 3 degree field-of-view, targeting a mass-selected sample with a median redshift of 0.03, typical spatial resolution of 1-2 kpc, and a per-fiber signal-to-noise ratio of 4-8 in the outskirts of target galaxies. For each galaxy in the sample, MaNGA will provide maps and measured gradients of the composition and dynamics of both stars and gas. I discuss early results that highlight MaNGA's potential to shed light on the ionization and chemical enrichment of gas in galaxies, spatial patterns in their star formation histories, and the internal makeup of stellar populations. MaNGA's unprecedented data set will not only provide powerful new insight on galaxy formation and evolution but will serve as a valuable benchmark for future high-z observations from large telescopes and space-based facilities.

Tidal Dwarf Galaxies (TDG's) are formed from material stripped from the disks of spiral galaxies, which are undergoing tidal interactions with a nearby companion. These galaxies provide important clues to our understanding of galaxy formation, evolution and cosmic recycling. Using the IRS we will measure the star formation activity in 6 TDG candidates. We will measure the ionization state ( [NeII] 12.8 um, [NeIII] 15.6 um and [NeV] 14.3um and [OIV] 25.9 um), the density in the ionized gas ([SIII] 18.7um/33.5um), the PAH fractions at 5.5-9um and 11-12.2um and possibly (optimistic here!) molecular hydrogen emission form PDRs at H2 (S0) 28um and H2 (S1) at 17um. In addition to the IRS observations we will map both the Guitar and Stephan's Quintet with IRAC. This will enable us to compare the PAH fraction in the dwarf galaxy to that of its parent. Similarly we will compare our observation of the proposed TDG at the southern tip of NGC 4038 with the GT observations of the central region of the Antennae. This program compliments two existing GT programmes: 1) the high-Z program - these observations enable us to observe in fine detail the nearby/present day analogs of galaxy formation in the early universe. 2) Blue Compact Dwarf programme - On first inpsection BCD's and TDG's appear the same: BCDs are similar in size to TDG's, but TDG's may not have a large dark matter halo component (affecting the long term stability of an object) and BCD's typically have a much lower metallicity. We will be able to compare the star formation activity in terms of the ionization state and PAH fraction in the two galaxy types.

We have used the Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph aboard HST to detect interstellar Mg II and C IV absorption lines toward Mrk 205, a QSO whose sightline passes within 3/h kpc of the foreground galaxy NGC 4319. Absorption is detected from both local Milky Way gas and from NGC 4319, making this the first observation of an isolated, low-redshift galaxy causing an 'optically thick' QSO absorption system. We also observed for the first time Mg II absorption from two local High Velocity Clouds along this same sightline. The data support the premise that metal absorption lines seen at higher redshift in QSO spectra originate in gas associated with intervening galaxies. However, neither the strong absorption by (half) of our own Galaxy, nor the weak absorption by NGC 4319, may be typical of absorbers in general.

A few percents of galaxies are classified as « active ». An active galaxy is a galaxy whose nucleus emits more energy than the whole galaxy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, relativistic particles, or mechanical energy. It is activated by a supermassive black hole fueled by matter falling on it, whose characteristics (Eddington luminosity, spin) are recalled. The class includes quasars and Seyfert galaxies. All massive "non active" galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, but there is not enough matter in its environment so as the nucleus becomes luminous. Different items are considered in the paper : how supermassive black holes are fueled, the accretion disc, the jets and the winds, the unified model of active galaxies, how are determined the masses of supermassive black holes, and what is the relation between the evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes.

Many galaxies have taken on their familiar appearance relatively recently. In the distant Universe, galaxy morphology deviates significantly (and systematically) from that of nearby galaxies at redshifts (z) as low as 0.3. This corresponds to a time approximately 3.5 x 10(9) years in the past, which is only approximately 25% of the present age of the Universe. Beyond z = 0.5 (5 x 10(9) years in the past), spiral arms are less well developed and more chaotic, and barred spiral galaxies may become rarer. At z = 1, around 30% of the galaxy population is sufficiently peculiar that classification on Hubble's traditional "tuning fork" system is meaningless. On the other hand, some characteristics of galaxies have not changed much over time. The space density of luminous disk galaxies has not changed significantly since z = 1, indicating that although the general appearance of these galaxies has continuously changed over time, their overall numbers have been conserved.

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Visible/DSS Click on image for larger version Ultraviolet/GALEX Click on image for larger version Poster Version Click on image for larger version

The unique ultraviolet vision of NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer reveals, for the first time, dwarf galaxies forming out of nothing more than pristine gas likely leftover from the early universe. Dwarf galaxies are relatively small collections of stars that often orbit around larger galaxies like our Milky Way.

The forming dwarf galaxies shine in the far ultraviolet spectrum, rendered as blue in the call-out on the right hand side of this image. Near ultraviolet light, also obtained by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, is displayed in green, and visible light from the blue part of the spectrum here is represented by red. The clumps (in circles) are distinctively blue, indicating they are primarily detected in far ultraviolet light.

The faint blue overlay traces the outline of the Leo Ring, a huge cloud of hydrogen and helium that orbits around two massive galaxies in the constellation Leo (left panel). The cloud is thought likely to be a primordial object, an ancient remnant of material that has remained relatively unchanged since the very earliest days of the universe. Identified about 25 years ago by radio waves, the ring cannot be seen in visible light.

Only a portion of the Leo Ring has been imaged in the ultraviolet, but this section contains the telltale ultraviolet signature of recent massive star formation within this ring of pristine gas. Astronomers have previously only seen dwarf galaxies form out of gas that has already been cycled through a galaxy and enriched with metals elements heavier than helium produced as stars evolve.

The visible data come from the Digitized Sky Survey of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. The

This troupe of four galaxies, known as Hickson Compact Group 87 (HCG 87), is performing an intricate dance orchestrated by the mutual gravitational forces acting between them. The dance is a slow, graceful minuet, occurring over a time span of hundreds of millions of years. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) provides a striking improvement in resolution over previous ground-based imaging. In particular, this image reveals complex details in the dust lanes of the group's largest galaxy member (HCG 87a), which is actually disk-shaped, but tilted so that we see it nearly edge-on. Both 87a and its elliptically shaped nearest neighbor (87b) have active galactic nuclei which are believed to harbor black holes that are consuming gas. A third group member, the nearby spiral galaxy 87c, may be undergoing a burst of active star formation. Gas flows within galaxies can be intensified by the gravitational tidal forces between interacting galaxies. So interactions can provide fresh fuel for both active nuclei and starburst phenomena. These three galaxies are so close to each other that gravitational forces disrupt their structure and alter their evolution. From the analysis of its spectra, the small spiral near the center of the group could either be a fourth member or perhaps an unrelated background object. The HST image was made by combining images taken in four different color filters in order to create a three-color picture. Regions of active star formation are blue (hot stars) and also pinkish if hot hydrogen gas is present. The complex dark bands across the large edge-on disk galaxy are due to interstellar dust silhouetted against the galaxy's background starlight. A faint tidal bridge of stars can be seen between the edge-on and elliptical galaxies. HCG 87 was selected for Hubble imaging by members of the public who visited the Hubble Heritage website (http://heritage.stsci.edu) during the month of May and registered their votes

We develop an analytic model for galaxy intrinsic alignments (IA) based on the theory of tidal alignment. We calculate all relevant nonlinear corrections at one-loop order, including effects from nonlinear density evolution, galaxy biasing, and source density weighting. Contributions from density weighting are found to be particularly important and lead to bias dependence of the IA amplitude, even on large scales. This effect may be responsible for much of the luminosity dependence in IA observations. The increase in IA amplitude for more highly biased galaxies reflects their locations in regions with large tidal fields. We also consider the impact of smoothing the tidal field on halo scales. We compare the performance of this consistent nonlinear model in describing the observed alignment of luminous red galaxies with the linear model as well as the frequently used "nonlinear alignment model," finding a significant improvement on small and intermediate scales. We also show that the cross-correlation between density and IA (the "GI" term) can be effectively separated into source alignment and source clustering, and we accurately model the observed alignment down to the one-halo regime using the tidal field from the fully nonlinear halo-matter cross correlation. Inside the one-halo regime, the average alignment of galaxies with density tracers no longer follows the tidal alignment prediction, likely reflecting nonlinear processes that must be considered when modeling IA on these scales. Finally, we discuss tidal alignment in the context of cosmic shear measurements.

We develop an analytic model for galaxy intrinsic alignments (IA) based on the theory of tidal alignment. We calculate all relevant nonlinear corrections at one-loop order, including effects from nonlinear density evolution, galaxy biasing, and source density weighting. Contributions from density weighting are found to be particularly important and lead to bias dependence of the IA amplitude, even on large scales. This effect may be responsible for much of the luminosity dependence in IA observations. The increase in IA amplitude for more highly biased galaxies reflects their locations in regions with large tidal fields. We also consider the impact of smoothing the tidal field on halo scales. We compare the performance of this consistent nonlinear model in describing the observed alignment of luminous red galaxies with the linear model as well as the frequently used 'nonlinear alignment model,' finding a significant improvement on small and intermediate scales. We also show that the cross-correlation between density and IA (the 'GI' term) can be effectively separated into source alignment and source clustering, and we accurately model the observed alignment down to the one-halo regime using the tidal field from the fully nonlinear halo-matter cross correlation. Inside the one-halo regime, the average alignment of galaxies with density tracers no longer follows the tidal alignment prediction, likely reflecting nonlinear processes that must be considered when modeling IA on these scales. Finally, we discuss tidal alignment in the context of cosmic shear measurements.

Three actinide(IV) phosphites and a NpIV phosphate, AnIV(HPO₃)₂(H₂O)₂ (An = Th, U, Np) and Cs[Np(H1.5PO₄)(PO₄)]₂, respectively, were synthesized using mild hydrothermal conditions. The first three phases are isotypic and were obtained using similar reaction conditions. Cs[Np(H1.5PO₄)(PO₄)]₂ was synthesized using an analogous method to that of Np(HPO₃)₂(H₂O)₂. However, this fourth phase is quite different in comparison to the other phases in both composition and structure. The structure of Cs[Np(H1.5PO₄)(PO₄)]₂ is constructed from double layers of neptunium(IV) phosphate with caesium cations in the interlayer region. In contrast, An(HPO₃)₂(H₂O)₂ (An = Th, U, Np) form dense 3D networks. The actinide contraction is detected in variety of metrics obtained from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. Changes in the oxidation state of the neptunium starting materials yield different products.

Galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing probe the connection between galaxies and their dark matter haloes in complementary ways. Since the clustering of dark matter haloes depends on cosmology, the halo occupation statistics inferred from the observed clustering properties of galaxies are degenerate with the adopted cosmology. Consequently, different cosmologies imply different mass-to-light ratios for dark matter haloes. Galaxy-galaxy lensing, which yields direct constraints on the actual mass-to-light ratios, can therefore be used to break this degeneracy, and thus to constrain cosmological parameters. In this paper, we establish the link between galaxy luminosity and dark matter halo mass using the conditional luminosity function (CLF), Φ(L|M)dL, which gives the number of galaxies with luminosities in the range L +/- dL/2 that reside in a halo of mass M. We constrain the CLF parameters using the galaxy luminosity function and the luminosity dependence of the correlation lengths of galaxies. The resulting CLF models are used to predict the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal. For a cosmology that agrees with constraints from the cosmic microwave background, i.e. (Ωm,σ8) = (0.238,0.734), the model accurately fits the galaxy-galaxy lensing data obtained from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For a comparison cosmology with (Ωm,σ8) = (0.3,0.9), however, we can accurately fit the luminosity function and clustering properties of the galaxy population, but the model predicts mass-to-light ratios that are too high, resulting in a strong overprediction of the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal. We conclude that the combination of galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing is a powerful probe of the galaxy-dark matter connection, with the potential to yield tight constraints on cosmological parameters. Since this method mainly probes the mass distribution on relatively small (non-linear) scales, it is complementary to constraints obtained from the galaxy power spectrum, which

In the last 10 billion years (i.e., since redshift z ~2) the number of quiescent galaxies with little to no ongoing star formation has grown by a factor ~25. This is challenging to understand since galaxy formation models predict that these galaxies will continue to accrete fresh gas over their lifetimes, relatively little of which is required to reignite measurable star formation. It is thought that feedback from fresh gas accreting onto a central active galactic nucleus (AGN) might help such galaxies maintain their quiescence, but observational evidence for such ``maintenance mode feedback'' remains sparse. Using novel imaging spectroscopy from the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey (Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory), we present evidence for a new maintenance mode phenomenon we term ``red geysers,'' a potentially episodic but relatively low-power AGN driven wind present in typical quiescent field galaxies of moderate mass and spheroidal morphology. We examine an archetypal red geyser that appears to be accreting gas from a low-mass companion but has no corresponding star formation. Instead, we find evidence for a galaxy-scale ionized wind with outflow velocities reaching more than 300 km/s and high velocity dispersions. We also detect a narrow biconical pattern of strong emission line equivalent widths consistent with fast shocks. Given additional confirmation of a radio AGN present in the galaxy, we propose that red geysers such as this may be a common mode in which gas accretion activates an ionized wind feedback mechanism that prevents star formation and helps moderate luminosity quiescent galaxies maintain their quiescence.

High redshift galaxies that host powerful radio sources are examined. An overview is presented of the content of radio surveys: 3CR and 3CRR, 4C and 4C/USS, B2/1 Jy, MG, MRC/1Jy, Parkes/PSR, B3, and ESO Key-Project. Narrow-line radio galaxies in the visible and UV, the source of ionization and excitation of the emission lines, emission-line luminosities, morphology of the line-emitting gas, physical properties and energetics, kinematics of the line-emitting gas, and implications from the emission lines are discussed. The morphologies and environments of the host galaxies, the alignment effect, and spectral energy distributions and ages are also examined.

We present the results of a search for microvariability in a sample of eight Seyfert galaxies. Microvariability (i.e., variations occurring on timescales of tens of minutes to hours) has been conclusively demonstrated to exist in the class of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) known as blazars. Its existence in other classes of AGNs is far less certain. We present the results of a study of eight Seyfert 1 galaxies, which were intensively monitored in order to determine whether such variations exist in these objects. Only one object, Ark 120, displayed any evidence of microvariations. The implications of these results with respect to current models of the mechanisms responsible for the observed emission in Seyfert galaxies are discussed. We compare our results with those obtained from other studies of microvariability in different classes of AGNs.

In the near future, high energy (E greater than 20 MeV) gamma ray astronomy offers the promise of a new means of examining the closest galaxies. Two and possibly three local galaxies, the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds and M31, should be visible to the high energy gamma ray telescope on the Gamma Ray Observatory, and the first should be seen by GAMMA-1. With the assumptions of adequate cosmic ray production and reasonable magnetic field strengths, both of which should likely be satisfied, specific predictions of the gamma ray emission can be made separating the concepts of the galactic and universal nature of cosmic rays. A study of the synchrotron radiation from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) suggests that the cosmic ray density is similar to that in the local region of our galaxy, but not uniform. It is hoped the measurements will be able to verify this independent of assumptions about the magnetic fields in the LMC.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has imaged an unusual edge-on galaxy, revealing remarkable details of its warped dusty disc and showing how colliding galaxies trigger the birth of new stars.

The image, taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), is online at http://heritage.stsci.edu and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc. The camera was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. During observations of the galaxy, the camera passed a milestone, taking its 100,000th image since shuttle astronauts installed it in Hubble in 1993.

The dust and spiral arms of normal spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way, look flat when seen edge- on. The new image of the galaxy ESO 510-G13 shows an unusual twisted disc structure, first seen in ground-based photographs taken at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. ESO 510-G13 lies in the southern constellation Hydra, some 150 million light-years from Earth. Details of the galaxy's structure are visible because interstellar dust clouds that trace its disc are silhouetted from behind by light from the galaxy's bright, smooth central bulge.

The strong warping of the disc indicates that ESO 510-G13 has recently collided with a nearby galaxy and is in the process of swallowing it. Gravitational forces distort galaxies as their stars, gas, and dust merge over millions of years. When the disturbances die out, ESO 510-G13 will be a single galaxy.

The galaxy's outer regions, especially on the right side of the image, show dark dust and bright clouds of blue stars. This indicates that hot, young stars are forming in the twisted disc. Astronomers believe star formation may be triggered when galaxies collide and their interstellar clouds are compressed.

The Hubble Heritage Team used WFPC2 to observe ESO 510-G13 in April 2001. Pictures obtained through blue, green, and red filters were combined to make this color-composite image, which emphasizes the contrast between the dusty

This paper presents the first results from a new citizen science project: Galaxy Zoo Supernovae. This proof-of-concept project uses members of the public to identify supernova candidates from the latest generation of wide-field imaging transient surveys. We describe the Galaxy Zoo Supernovae operations and scoring model, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this novel method using imaging data and transients from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). We examine the results collected over the period 2010 April-July, during which nearly 14 000 supernova candidates from the PTF were classified by more than 2500 individuals within a few hours of data collection. We compare the transients selected by the citizen scientists to those identified by experienced PTF scanners and find the agreement to be remarkable - Galaxy Zoo Supernovae performs comparably to the PTF scanners and identified as transients 93 per cent of the ˜130 spectroscopically confirmed supernovae (SNe) that the PTF located during the trial period (with no false positive identifications). Further analysis shows that only a small fraction of the lowest signal-to-noise ratio detections (r > 19.5) are given low scores: Galaxy Zoo Supernovae correctly identifies all SNe with ≥8σ detections in the PTF imaging data. The Galaxy Zoo Supernovae project has direct applicability to future transient searches, such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, by both rapidly identifying candidate transient events and via the training and improvement of existing machine classifier algorithms. This publication has been made possible by the participation of more than 10 000 volunteers in the Galaxy Zoo Supernovae project ().

We have studied the abundance of oxygen in the IGM by analyzing O VI, C IV, Si IV, and H I pixel optical depths derived from a set of high-quality VLT and Keck spectra of 17 QSOs at 2.1lesssim zlesssim 3.6. Comparing ratios τO VI/τC IV(τC IV) to those in realistic, synthetic spectra drawn from a hydrodynamical simulation and comparing to existing constraints on [Si/C] places strong constraints on the ultraviolet background (UVB) model using weak priors on allowed values of [Si/O]: for example, a quasar-only background yields [ Si/O ] ≈ 1.4, which is highly inconsistent with the [ Si/O ] ≈ 0 expected from nucleosynthetic yields and with observations of metal-poor stars. Assuming a fiducial quasar+galaxy UVB consistent with these constraints yields a primary result that [ O/C ] = 0.66 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.2; this result pertains to gas with overdensity δ gtrsim 2. Consistent results are obtained by similarly comparing τO VI/τH I(τH I) and τO VI/τSi IV(τSi IV) to simulation values, and also by directly ionization-correcting τO VI/τH I as a function of τH I into [O/H] as a function of density. Subdividing the sample reveals no evidence for evolution, but low- and high-τH I samples are inconsistent, suggesting either density dependence of [O/C] or—more likely—prevalence of collisionally ionized gas at high density. Based on public data obtained from the ESP archive of observations from the UVES spectrograph at the VLT, Paranal, Chile, and on data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The W. M. Keck Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

Understanding galaxy evolution depends on connecting large-scale structure determined by the ΛCDM model with, at minimum, the small-scale physics of gas, star formation, and stellar feedback. Formation of galaxies within dark matter halos is sensitive to the physical phenomena occurring within and around the halo. This is especially true for dwarf galaxies, which have the smallest potential wells and are more susceptible to the effects of gas ionization and removal than larger galaxies. At dwarf galaxies scales comparisons of dark matter-only simulations with observations has unveiled various differences including the core-cusp, the missing satellites, and the too-big-to-fail problems. We have run a new suite of hydrodynamical simulations using the ART code to examine the evolution of dwarf galaxies in massive host environments. These are cosmological zoom-in simulations including deterministic star formation and stellar feedback in the form of supernovae feedback, stellar winds, radiation pressure, and photoionization pressure. We simulates galaxies with final halo masses on the order of 1012 M⊙ with high resolution, allowing us to examine the satellite dwarf galaxies and local isolated dwarf galaxies around each primary galaxy. We analyzed the abundance and structure of these dwarfs specifically the velocity function, their star formation rates, core creation and the circumgalactic medium. By reproducing observations of dwarf galaxies in simulations we show how including baryons in simulations relieves tensions seen in comparing dark matter only simulations with observations.

The spectra of selected H II regions in the center of the starburst galaxy NGC 1808 and of many faint galaxies surrounding the NGC 1808 were obtained simultaneously, using the Optopus fiber-optics spectrograph facility (described by Lund, 1986) at the ESO 3.6-m telescope. The preparation of Optopus plates (each of which employed more than 40 fibers), observations, and the procedures of data processing and Optopus calibration are described together with the problems caused by cosmic ray events. Preliminary results are included.

IV emission line in the Sloan optical spectra to estimate the masses of their central supermassive black holes. The results imply a black hole-to-host-galaxy mass ratio Mbh:Mgal≃ 0.01-0.05. This is an order of magnitude higher than typically seen in the low-redshift Universe, and is consistent with existing evidence for a systematic growth in this mass ratio with increasing redshift [i.e. Mbh:Mgal∝ (1 +z)1.4-2.0], at least for objects selected as powerful active galactic nuclei.

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) is a project to study galaxy formation and evolution, combining imaging data from ultraviolet to radio with spectroscopic data from the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Using data from Phase 1 of GAMA, taken over three observing seasons, and correcting for various minor sources of incompleteness, we calculate galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) and their evolution in the ugriz passbands. At low redshift, z < 0.1, we find that blue galaxies, defined according to a magnitude-dependent but non-evolving colour cut, are reasonably well fitted over a range of more than 10 magnitudes by simple Schechter functions in all bands. Red galaxies, and the combined blue plus red sample, require double power-law Schechter functions to fit a dip in their LF faintwards of the characteristic magnitude M* before a steepening faint end. This upturn is at least partly due to dust-reddened disc galaxies. We measure the evolution of the galaxy LF over the redshift range 0.002 < z < 0.5 both by using a parametric fit and by measuring binned LFs in redshift slices. The characteristic luminosity L* is found to increase with redshift in all bands, with red galaxies showing stronger luminosity evolution than blue galaxies. The comoving number density of blue galaxies increases with redshift, while that of red galaxies decreases, consistent with prevailing movement from blue cloud to red sequence. As well as being more numerous at higher redshift, blue galaxies also dominate the overall luminosity density beyond redshifts z≃ 0.2. At lower redshifts, the luminosity density is dominated by red galaxies in the riz bands, and by blue galaxies in u and g.

Astronomers have used the NASA Hubble Space Telescope to produce an infrared 'photo essay' of spiral galaxies. By penetrating the dust clouds swirling around the centers of these galaxies, the telescope's infrared vision is offering fresh views of star birth. These six images, taken with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer, showcase different views of spiral galaxies, from a face-on image of an entire galaxy to a close-up of a core. The top row shows spirals at diverse angles, from face-on, (left); to slightly tilted, (center); to edge-on, (right). The bottom row shows close-ups of the hubs of three galaxies. In these images, red corresponds to glowing hydrogen, the raw material for star birth. The red knots outlining the curving spiral arms in NGC 5653 and NGC 3593, for example, pinpoint rich star-forming regions where the surrounding hydrogen gas is heated by intense ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars. In visible light, many of these regions can be hidden from view by the clouds of gas and dust in which they were born. The glowing hydrogen found inside the cores of these galaxies, as in NGC 6946, may be due to star birth; radiation from active galactic nuclei (AGN), which are powered by massive black holes; or a combination of both. White is light from middle-age stars. Clusters of stars appear as white dots, as in NGC 2903. The galaxy cores are mostly white because of their dense concentration of stars. The dark material seen in these images is dust. These galaxies are part of a Hubble census of about 100 spiral galaxies. Astronomers at Space Telescope Science Institute took these images to fill gaps in the scheduling of a campaign using the NICMOS-3 camera. The data were non-proprietary, and were made available to the entire astronomical community. Filters: Three filters were used: red, blue, and green. Red represents emission at the Paschen Alpha line (light from glowing hydrogen) at a wavelength of 1.87 microns. Blue shows the

Only certain galaxies are included in surveys: those bright and large enough to be detectable as extended sources. Because gravitational lensing can make galaxies appear both brighter and larger, the presence of foreground inhomogeneities can scatter galaxies across not only magnitude cuts but also size cuts, changing the statistical properties of the resulting catalog. Here we explore this size bias and how it combines with magnification bias to affect galaxy statistics. We demonstrate that photometric galaxy samples from current and upcoming surveys can be even more affected by size bias than by magnification bias.

Astronomers have found a spiral galaxy that may be spinning to the beat of a different cosmic drummer. To the surprise of astronomers, the galaxy, called NGC 4622, appears to be rotating in the opposite direction to what they expected. Pictures by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope helped astronomers determine that the galaxy may be spinning clockwise by showing which side of the galaxy is closer to Earth. A Hubble telescope photo of the oddball galaxy is this month's Hubble Heritage offering. The image shows NGC 4622 and its outer pair of winding arms full of new stars [shown in blue]. Astronomers are puzzled by the clockwise rotation because of the direction the outer spiral arms are pointing. Most spiral galaxies have arms of gas and stars that trail behind as they turn. But this galaxy has two 'leading' outer arms that point toward the direction of the galaxy's clockwise rotation. To add to the conundrum, NGC 4622 also has a 'trailing' inner arm that is wrapped around the galaxy in the opposite direction it is rotating. Based on galaxy simulations, a team of astronomers had expected that the galaxy was turning counterclockwise. NGC 4622 is a rare example of a spiral galaxy with arms pointing in opposite directions. What caused this galaxy to behave differently from most galaxies? Astronomers suspect that NGC 4622 interacted with another galaxy. Its two outer arms are lopsided, meaning that something disturbed it. The new Hubble image suggests that NGC 4622 consumed a small companion galaxy. The galaxy's core provides new evidence for a merger between NGC 4622 and a smaller galaxy. This information could be the key to understanding the unusual leading arms. Galaxies, which consist of stars, gas, and dust, rotate very slowly. Our Sun, one of many stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, completes a circuit around the Milky Way every 250 million years. NGC 4622 resides 111 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. The pictures were taken in May 2001 with Hubble

GALSIM is a collaborative, open-source project aimed at providing an image simulation tool of enduring benefit to the astronomical community. It provides a software library for generating images of astronomical objects such as stars and galaxies in a variety of ways, efficiently handling image transformations and operations such as convolution and rendering at high precision. We describe the GALSIM software and its capabilities, including necessary theoretical background. We demonstrate that the performance of GALSIM meets the stringent requirements of high precision image analysis applications such as weak gravitational lensing, for current datasets and for the Stage IV dark energy surveys of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, ESA's Euclid mission, and NASA's WFIRST-AFTA mission. The GALSIM project repository is public and includes the full code history, all open and closed issues, installation instructions, documentation, and wiki pages (including a Frequently Asked Questions section). The GALSIM repository can be found at https://github.com/GalSim-developers/GalSim.

The detailed study of the different structural components of nearby galaxies can supply vital information about the secular, or internal, evolution of these galaxies which they may have undergone since their formation. We highlight a series of new studies based on the analysis of mid-infrared images of over 2000 local galaxies which we are collecting within the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S^4G). In particular, we discuss new results on the thick and thin disk components of galaxies, which turn out to be roughly equally massive, and whose properties indicate that the thick disks mostly formed in situ, and to a lesser degree as a result of galaxy-galaxy interactions and secular evolution. We then briefly review recent research into rings in galaxies, which are common and closely linked to secular evolution of galaxies. Finally, we report on the research into local galaxy morphology, kinematics and stellar populations that we will perform over the coming four years within the EU-funded initial training network DAGAL (Detailed Anatomy of GALaxies).

The IRAS survey gives an unbiased view of the infrared properties of the active galaxies. Seyfert galaxies occupy much the same area in color-color plots as to normal infrared bright galaxies, but extend the range towards flatter 60 to 25 mm slopes. Statistically the Seyfert 1 galaxies can be distinguished from the Seyfert 2 galaxies, lying predominantly closer to the area with constant slopes between 25 and 200 mm. The infrared measurements of the Seyfert galaxies cannot distinguish between the emission mechanisms in these objects although they agree with the currently popular ideas; they do provide a measure of the total luminosity of the Seyferts. The quasar's position in the color-color diagrams continue the trend of the Seyferts. The quasar 3C48 is shown to be exceptional among the radio loud quasars in that it has a high infrared luminosity which dominates the power output of the quasar and is most likely associated with the underlying host galaxy.

Recent spectroscopic observations of IZw 18 have revealed homogeneous abundance throughout the galaxy and several observations of other starburst galaxies have shown no significant gradient or discontinuity in the abundance distributions within the H II regions. I thus concur with Tenorio-Tagle G., 1996, AJ 111, 1641 and Devost D., Roy J.R., Drissen L., 1997, ApJ 482, 765, that these observed abundance homogeneities cannot be produced by the material ejected from the stars formed in the current burst and result from a previous star-formation episode. Metals ejected in the current burst of star formation remain most probably hidden in a hot phase and are undetectable using optical spectroscopy. Combining various observational facts, for instance, the faint star-formation rate observed in low surface brightness galaxies, Van Zee L., Haynes M.P., Salzer J.J., Broeils A.H., 1997c, AJ 113, 1618. I propose that a low and continuous star-formation rate, occurring during quiescent phases between bursts, is a non negligible source of new elements in the interstellar medium. Using a spectrophotometric and chemical evolution model for galaxies, I investigated the star formation history IZw 18. I demonstrate that the continuous star formation scenario reproduces all the observed parameters of IZw 18. I discuss the consequences of such a quiet star-formation regime.

The conditions for the destruction of dust in hot gas in galaxy clusters are investigated. It is argued that extinction measurements can be subject to selection effects, hindering their use in obtaining trustworthy estimates of dust masses in clusters. It is shown, in particular, that the ratio of the dust mass to the extinction M d / S d increases as dust grains are disrupted, due to the rapid destruction of small grains. Over long times, this ratio can asymptotically reach values a factor of three higher than the mean value in the interstellar medium in the Galaxy. This lowers dust-mass estimates based on measurements of extinction in galaxy clusters. The characteristic lifetime of dust in hot cluster gas is determined by its possible thermal isolation by the denser medium of gas fragments within which the dust is ejected from galaxies, and can reach 100-300 million years, depending on the kinematics and morphology of the fragments. As a result, the mass fraction of dust in hot cluster gas can reach 1-3% of the Galactic value. Over its lifetime, dust can also be manifest through its far-infrared emission. The emission characteristics of the dust change as it is disrupted, and the ratio of the fluxes at 350 and 850 μm can increase appreciably. This can potentially serve as an indicator of the state of the dust and ambient gas.

Discusses the origin of life on the basis of information about cosmic evolution, stellar alchemy, atmospheric histories, and rise and fall of civilizations. Indicates that man's contact with other civilizations in our galaxy may be made possible through studies of interstellar communication. (CC)

Aims: This paper studies the galaxy cosmological mass function (GCMF) in a semi-empirical relativistic approach that uses observational data provided by recent galaxy redshift surveys. Methods: Starting from a previously presented relation between the mass-to-light ratio, the selection function obtained from the luminosity function (LF) data and the luminosity density, the average luminosity L, and the average galactic mass ℳg were computed in terms of the redshift. ℳg was also alternatively estimated by means of a method that uses the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF). Comparison of these two forms of deriving the average galactic mass allowed us to infer a possible bias introduced by the selection criteria of the survey. We used the FORS Deep Field galaxy survey sample of 5558 galaxies in the redshift range 0.5 galaxy mergers or as a strong evolution in the star formation history of these galaxies.

The authors review the "Advanced Clinical Solutions for WAIS-IV and WMS-IV". The "Advanced Clinical Solutions (ACS) for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition" (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008) and the "Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition" (WMS-IV; Wechsler, 2009) was published by Pearson in 2009. It is a…

In the context of a potential modeling of reduced oxovanadium species occurring on the surfaces of silica-supported vanadia catalysts in the course of its turnover, the incompletely condensed silsesquioxane H(3)(c-pentyl)T(7) was reacted with Cl(4)V(THF)(2) (where THF = tetrahydrofuran) in the presence of triethylamine. Precipitation of 3 equiv of HNEt(3)Cl seemed to point to the clean formation of [((c-pentyl)T(7))(V(IV)Cl)] (1), which was supported by electron paramagnetic resonance studies performed for the resulting solutions, but further analytical and spectroscopic investigations showed that the processes occurring at that stage are more complex than that and even include the formation of [((c-pentyl)T(7))(V(V)O)](2) as a side product. Storage of a red-brown hexane solution of this product mixture reproducibly led to the precipitation of blue crystals belonging to the chloride-free compound [((c-pentyl)T(7))(2)(V(IV)=O)(3)(THF)(2)] (2), as revealed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Performing the same reaction in the presence of 2 equiv of pyridine leads to an analogous product, where the THF ligands are replaced by pyridine. Subsequent investigations showed that the terminal oxo ligands at the vanadium centers are, on the one hand, due to the presence of adventitious water; on the other hand, the [(c-pentyl)T(7)](3-) ligand also acted as a source of O(2-). The results of SQUID measurements performed for 2 can be interpreted in terms of a ferromagnetic coupling between the vanadyl units. Exposing 2 to a dioxygen atmosphere resulted in its immediate oxidation to yield the V(V) complex [((c-pentyl)T(7))(V(V)O)](2), which may model a fast reoxidation reaction of oxovanadium(IV) trimers on silica surfaces.

Oxo-manganese-tetraphenylporphyrin (O=Mn{sup IV}-TPP) has been prepared by an oxygen-transfer reaction from iodosylbenzene to MnIITPP and characterized by its i.r. and field desorption mass spectra, which are identical to those of the product obtained by direct oxidation of Mn{sup III}(TPP) in an aqueous medium; it transfers oxygen to triphenylphosphine to produce triphenylphosphine oxide, and it is suggested that similar intermediates are important in oxygen activation by cytochrome P-450 as well as in the photosynthetic evolution of oxygen.

Black hole masses are crucial to understanding the physics of the connection between quasars and their host galaxies and measuring cosmic black hole-growth. At high redshift, z ≳ 2.1, black hole masses are normally derived using the velocity width of the C IV λ λ1548, 1550 broad emission line, based on the assumption that the observed velocity widths arise from virial-induced motions. In many quasars, the C IV emission line exhibits significant blue asymmetries (`blueshifts') with the line centroid displaced by up to thousands of km s-1 to the blue. These blueshifts almost certainly signal the presence of strong outflows, most likely originating in a disc wind. We have obtained near-infrared spectra, including the Hα λ6565 emission line, for 19 luminous (LBol = 46.5-47.5 erg s-1) Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars, at redshifts 2 < z < 2.7, with C IV emission lines spanning the full range of blueshifts present in the population. A strong correlation between C IV velocity width and blueshift is found and, at large blueshifts, >2000 km s-1, the velocity widths appear to be dominated by non-virial motions. Black hole masses, based on the full width at half-maximum of the C IV emission line, can be overestimated by a factor of 5 at large blueshifts. A larger sample of quasar spectra with both C IV and H β, or Hα, emission lines will allow quantitative corrections to C IV-based black hole masses as a function of blueshift to be derived. We find that quasars with large C IV blueshifts possess high Eddington luminosity ratios and that the fraction of high-blueshift quasars in a flux-limited sample is enhanced by a factor of approximately 4 relative to a sample limited by black hole mass.

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Silver Dollar Galaxy: NGC 253 (figure 1) Located 10 million light-years away in the southern constellation Sculptor, the Silver Dollar galaxy, or NGC 253, is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the night sky. In this edge-on view from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, the wisps of blue represent relatively dustless areas of the galaxy that are actively forming stars. Areas of the galaxy with a soft golden glow indicate regions where the far-ultraviolet is heavily obscured by dust particles.

Gravitational Dance: NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 (figure 2) In this image, the wide ultraviolet eyes of NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer show spiral galaxy NGC 1512 sitting slightly northwest of elliptical galaxy NGC 1510. The two galaxies are currently separated by a mere 68,000 light-years, leading many astronomers to suspect that a close encounter is currently in progress.

The overlapping of two tightly wound spiral arm segments makes up the light blue inner ring of NGC 1512. Meanwhile, the galaxy's outer spiral arm is being distorted by strong gravitational interactions with NGC 1510.

The inner ring in NGC 5566 is formed by two nearly overlapping bright arms, which themselves spring from the ends of a central bar. The bar is not visible in ultraviolet because it consists of older stars or low mass stars that do not emit energy at ultraviolet wavelengths. The outer disk of NGC 5566 appears warped, and the disk of NGC 5560 is clearly disturbed. Unlike its galactic neighbors, the disk of NGC 5569 does not appear to have been distorted by any passing

We utilize metal-poor stars in the local, ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs; L {sub tot} {<=} 10{sup 5} L {sub Sun }) to empirically constrain the formation process of the first galaxies. Since UFDs have much simpler star formation histories than the halo of the Milky Way, their stellar populations should preserve the fossil record of the first supernova (SN) explosions in their long-lived, low-mass stars. Guided by recent hydrodynamical simulations of first galaxy formation, we develop a set of stellar abundance signatures that characterize the nucleosynthetic history of such an early system if it was observed in the present-day universe. Specifically, we argue that the first galaxies are the product of chemical 'one-shot' events, where only one (long-lived) stellar generation forms after the first, Population III, SN explosions. Our abundance criteria thus constrain the strength of negative feedback effects inside the first galaxies. We compare the stellar content of UFDs with these one-shot criteria. Several systems (Ursa Major II, and also Coma Berenices, Bootes I, Leo IV, Segue 1) largely fulfill the requirements, indicating that their high-redshift predecessors did experience strong feedback effects that shut off star formation. We term the study of the entire stellar population of a dwarf galaxy for the purpose of inferring details about the nature and origin of the first galaxies 'dwarf galaxy archaeology'. This will provide clues to the connection of the first galaxies, the surviving, metal-poor dwarf galaxies, and the building blocks of the Milky Way.

An amazing 'edge-on' view of a spiral galaxy 55 million light years from Earth has been captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The image, available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/wfpc , reveals in great detail huge clouds of dust and gas extending along and above the galaxy's main disk.

The image was taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The galaxy, called NGC 4013, lies in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. If we could see it pole-on, it would look like a nearly circular pinwheel. In this Hubble image, NGC 4013 is seen edge-on, from our vantage point. Because the galaxy is larger than Hubble's field of view, the image shows only a little more than half the object, but with unprecedented detail.

Dark clouds of interstellar dust stand out, since they absorb the light of background stars. Most of the clouds lie in the galaxy's plane and form the dark band, about 500 light years thick, that appears to cut the galaxy in two from upper right to lower left. Scientists believe that new stars form in dark interstellar clouds. NGC 4013 shows several examples of these stellar kindergartens near the center of the image, in front of the dark band along the galaxy's equator. One extremely bright star near the upper left corner is merely a nearby foreground star that lies in our Milky Way and happened to be in the line of sight.

This new picture was constructed from Hubble images taken in January 2000 by Dr. J. Christopher Howk of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., and Dr. Blair D. Savage of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Images taken through three different filters have been combined into a color composite covering the region of the galaxy nucleus (behind the bright foreground star at the upper left) and extending along one edge of the galaxy to the lower right.

We explore the quenching of low-mass galaxies (104 ≲ {{M}\\star } ≲ 108 {{M}⊙ }) as a function of lookback time using the star formation histories (SFHs) of 38 Local Group dwarf galaxies. The SFHs were derived by analyzing color-magnitude diagrams of resolved stellar populations in archival Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 imaging. We find: (1) lower-mass galaxies quench earlier than higher-mass galaxies; (2) inside of Rvirial there is no correlation between a satellite’s current proximity to a massive host and its quenching epoch; and (3) there are hints of systematic differences in the quenching times of M31 and Milky Way (MW) satellites, although the sample size and uncertainties in the SFHs of M31 dwarfs prohibit definitive conclusions. Combined with results from the literature, we qualitatively consider the redshift evolution (z = 0-1) of the quenched galaxy fraction over ˜7 dex in stellar mass (104 ≲ {{M}\\star } ≲ 1011.5 {{M}⊙ }). The quenched fraction of all galaxies generally increases toward the present, with both the lowest and highest-mass systems exhibiting the largest quenched fractions at all redshifts. In contrast, galaxies between {{M}\\star } ˜ 108-1010 {{M}⊙ } have the lowest quenched fractions. We suggest that such intermediate-mass galaxies are the least efficient at quenching. Finally, we compare our quenching times with predictions for infall times for low-mass galaxies associated with the MW. We find that some of the lowest-mass satellites (e.g., CVn II, Leo IV) may have been quenched before infall, while higher-mass satellites (e.g., Leo I, Fornax) typically quench ˜1-4 Gyr after infall. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the Data Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA constract NAS 5-26555.

We use observed optical to near-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 266 galaxies in the COSMOS survey to derive the wavelength dependence of the dust attenuation at high redshift. All of the galaxies have spectroscopic redshifts in the range z = 2-6.5. The presence of the C IV absorption feature, indicating that the rest-frame UV-optical SED is dominated by OB stars, is used to select objects for which the intrinsic, unattenuated spectrum has a well-established shape. Comparison of this intrinsic spectrum with the observed broadband photometric SED then permits derivation of the wavelength dependence of the dust attenuation. The derived dust attenuation curve is similar in overall shape to the Calzetti curve for local starburst galaxies. We also see the 2175 Å bump feature which is present in the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud extinction curves but not seen in the Calzetti curve. The bump feature is commonly attributed to graphite or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. No significant dependence is seen with redshift between sub-samples at z = 2-4 and z = 4-6.5. The 'extinction' curve obtained here provides a firm basis for color and extinction corrections of high redshift galaxy photometry.

We present the application of the pseudo-spectrum method to galaxy-galaxy lensing. We derive explicit expressions for the pseudo-spectrum analysis of the galaxy-shear cross-spectrum, which is the Fourier space counterpart of the stacked galaxy-galaxy lensing profile. The pseudo-spectrum method corrects observational issues such as the survey geometry, masks of bright stars and their spikes, and inhomogeneous noise, which distort the spectrum and also mix the E-mode and the B-mode signals. Using ray-tracing simulations in N-body simulations including realistic masks, we confirm that the pseudo-spectrum method successfully recovers the input galaxy-shear cross-spectrum. We also show that the galaxy-shear cross-spectrum has an excess covariance relative to the Gaussian covariance at small scales (k ≳ 1h Mpc-1) where the shot noise is dominated in the Gaussian approximation. We find that the excess is consistent with the expectation from the halo sample variance (HSV), which originates from the matter fluctuations at scales larger than the survey area. We apply the pseudo-spectrum method to the observational data of Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing survey shear catalogue and three different spectroscopic samples of Sloan Digital Sky Survey Luminous Red Galaxy, and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey CMASS and LOWZ galaxies. The galaxy-shear cross-spectra are significantly detected at the level of 7-10σ using the analytic covariance with the HSV contribution included. We also confirm that the observed spectra are consistent with the halo model predictions with the halo occupation distribution parameters estimated from previous work. This work demonstrates the viability of galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis in the Fourier space.

Modern day galaxies are found to be in a bimodal distribution, both in terms of their morphologies, and in terms of their colors, and these properties are inter-related. In color space, there is a genuine dearth of intermediate colored galaxies, which has been taken to mean that the transition a galaxy undergoes to transform must be rapid. Given that this transformation is largely one-way (at z=0), identifying all initial conditions that catalyze it becomes essential. The Shocked POststarburst Galaxy Survey (http://www.spogs.org) is able to pinpoint transitioning galaxies at an earlier stage of transition than other traditional searches, possibly opening a new door to identifying new pathways over which galaxies transform from blue spirals to red ellipticals.

Infrared Astronomy Satellite measurements at 25, 60 and 100 microns were used to analyze the infrared properties of Seyfert galaxies from the Markarian and NGC Catalogs. One hundred and sixteen of 186 Seyfert galaxies were detected. About 50% of all Seyfert galaxies in the sample have 60 micron luminosities in excess of 10 to the 10th power solar luminosity, and the mean 60 micron luminosity increase with the optical B absolute magnitude. The luminosity functions of the Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies appear quite similar. It is possible, however, to statistically separate the two types of galaxies in color-color plots. The 100- to 60- micron energy distributions flatten systematically with increasing 60- micron luminosity. The infrared measurements provide a measure of the bolometric luminosity of the Seyfert galaxies, but do not discriminate between the physical processes involved.

The extensively studied Markarian sample of 1500 ultraviolet excess galaxies contains many Seyfert, starburst, and peculiar galaxies. Using the 20 minute V plates obtained for the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope Guide Star Catalog, the authors investigated the morphologies of the Markarian galaxies and the environments in which they are located. The relationship between the types of nuclear activity and the morphologies and environments of the Markarian galaxies is discussed. The authors conclude that the type of nuclear activity present in the galaxies of the Markarian sample is not dependent on either the morphology or the local environment of the galaxy. This is not to imply that nuclear activity per se is not influenced by the environment in which the nucleus is located. Rather the type of nuclear activity (at least in the Markarian population) does not appear to be determined by the environment.

Three-dimensional fully self-consistent computer models were used to determine the evolution of galaxies consisting of 100 000 simulation stars. Comparison of two-dimensional simulations with three-dimensional simulations showed only a very slight stabilizing effect due to the additional degree of freedom. The addition of a fully self-consistent, nonrotating, exponential core/halo component resulted in considerable stabilization. A second series of computer experiments was performed to determine the collapse and relaxation of initially spherical, uniform density and uniform velocity dispersion stellar systems. The evolution of the system was followed for various amounts of angular momentum in solid body rotation. For initally low values of the angular momentum satisfying the Ostriker-Peebles stability criterion, the systems quickly relax to an axisymmetric shape and resemble elliptical galaxies in appearance. For larger values of the initial angular momentum bars develop and the systems undergo a much more drastic evolution.

Galaxy clusters are formed via nonlinear growth of primordial density fluctuations and are the most massive gravitationally bound objects in the present Universe. Their number density at different epochs and their properties depend strongly on the properties of dark matter and dark energy, making clusters a powerful tool for observational cosmology. Observations of the hot gas filling the gravitational potential well of a cluster allows studying gasdynamic and plasma effects and the effect of supermassive black holes on the heating and cooling of gas on cluster scales. The work of Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich has had a profound impact on virtually all cosmological and astrophysical studies of galaxy clusters, introducing concepts such as the Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum, the Zeldovich approximation, baryon acoustic peaks, and the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. Here, we review the most basic properties of clusters and their role in modern astrophysics and cosmology.

Just after WWII Astronomy started to live its "Golden Age", not differently to many other sciences and human activities, especially in the west side countries. The improved resolution of telescopes and the appearance of new efficient light detectors (e.g. CCDs in the middle eighty) greatly impacted the extragalactic researches. The first morphological analysis of galaxies were rapidly substituted by "anatomic" studies of their structural components, star and gas content, and in general by detailed investigations of their properties. As for the human anatomy, where the final goal was that of understanding the functionality of the organs that are essential for the life of the body, galaxies were dissected to discover their basic structural components and ultimately the mystery of their existence.

The detection of a tailed radio galaxy in a galaxy cluster conjoined to a region of diffuse radio emission confirms that radio galaxies provide the energetic electrons needed to explain the origin of this enigmatic emission.

It has been known since the early 1940's that radiation can cause an instability in the interstellar medium. Absorbing dust particles in an isotropic radiation field shadow each other by a solid angle which is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two particles, leading to an inverse-square attractive force - mock gravity. The effect is largest in an optically thin medium. Recently Hogan and White (HW, hereafter) proposed that if the pre-galactic universe contained suitable sources of radiation and dust, instability in the dust distribution caused by mock gravity may have led to the formation of galaxies and galaxy clusters. In their picture of a well-coupled dust-gas medium, HW show that mock gravity begins to dominate gravitational instability when the perturbation becomes optically thin, provided that the radiation field at the time is strong enough. The recent rocket observation of the microwave background at submillimeter wavelengths by Matsumoto et al. might be from pre-galactic stars, the consequence of the absorption of ultraviolet radiation by dust, and infrared reemission which is subsequently redshifted. HW's analysis omits radiative drag, incomplete collisional coupling of gas and dust, finite dust albedo, and finite matter pressure. These effects could be important. In a preliminary calculation including them, the authors have confirmed that mock gravitational instability is effective if there is a strong ultraviolet radiation at the time, but any galaxies that form would be substantially enriched in heavy elements because the contraction of the dust is more rapid than that of the gas. Moreover, since the dust moves with supersonic velocity through the gas soon after the perturbation becomes optically thin, the sputtering of dust particles by gas is significant, so the dust could disappear before the instability develops significantly. They conclude that the mock gravity by dust is not important in galaxy formations.

Every few years the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) Center of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) decides to generate a new version of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). For the upcoming ITRF2014 the official contribution of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) comprises 5796 combined sessions in SINEX file format from 1979.6 to 2015.0 containing 158 stations, overall. Nine AC contributions were included in the combination process, using five different software packages. Station coordinate time series of the combined solution show an overall repeatability of 3.3 mm for the north, 4.3 mm for the east and 7.5 mm for the height component over all stations. The minimum repeatabilities are 1.5 mm for north, 2.1 mm for east and 2.9 mm for height. One of the important differences between the IVS contribution to the ITRF2014 and the routine IVS combination is the omission of the correction for non-tidal atmospheric pressure loading (NTAL). Comparisons between the amplitudes of the annual signals derived by the VLBI observations and the annual signals from an NTAL model show that for some stations, NTAL has a high impact on station height variation. For other stations, the effect of NTAL is low. Occasionally other loading effects have a higher influence (e.g. continental water storage loading). External comparisons of the scale parameter between the VTRF2014 (a TRF based on combined VLBI solutions), DTRF2008 (DGFI-TUM realization of ITRS) and ITRF2008 revealed a significant difference in the scale. A scale difference of 0.11 ppb (i.e. 0.7 mm on the Earth's surface) has been detected between the VTRF2014 and the DTRF2008, and a scale difference of 0.44 ppb (i.e. 2.8 mm on the Earth's surface) between the VTRF2014 and ITRF2008. Internal comparisons between the EOP of the combined solution and the individual solutions from the AC contributions show a WRMS in X- and Y-Pole between

High redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs) provide unique targets for the study of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies and galaxy clusters at very high redshifts. We discuss how efficient HzRG samples ae selected, the evidence for strong morphological evolution at near-infracd wavelengths, and for jet-induced star formation in the z = 3 800 HzRG 4C41 17

We present preliminary star-formation histories for a subset of the low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies in the MUSCEL (MUltiwavelength observations of the Structure, Chemistry, and Evolution of LSB galaxies) program. These histories are fitted against ground-based IFU spectra in tandem with space-based UV and IR photometry. MUSCEL aims to use these histories along with kinematic analyses to determine the physical processes that have caused the evolution of LSB galaxies to diverge from their high surface brightness counterparts.

Current and future large redshift surveys, as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS-IV/eBOSS) or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), will use emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to probe cosmological models by mapping the large-scale structure of the Universe in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1.7. With current data, we explore the halo-galaxy connection by measuring three clustering properties of g-selected ELGs as matter tracers in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1: (i) the redshift-space two-point correlation function using spectroscopic redshifts from the BOSS ELG sample and VIPERS; (ii) the angular two-point correlation function on the footprint of the CFHT-LS; (iii) the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal around the ELGs using the CFHTLenS. We interpret these observations by mapping them on to the latest high-resolution MultiDark Planck N-body simulation, using a novel (Sub)Halo-Abundance Matching technique that accounts for the ELG incompleteness. ELGs at z ˜ 0.8 live in haloes of (1 ± 0.5) × 1012 h-1M⊙ and 22.5 ± 2.5 per cent of them are satellites belonging to a larger halo. The halo occupation distribution of ELGs indicates that we are sampling the galaxies in which stars form in the most efficient way, according to their stellar-to-halo mass ratio.

The IRAS survey of the local universe has revealed the existence of a class of ultraluminous infrared galaxies with L(8 to 1000 micrometer) greater than 10 to the 12th L sub 0 that are slightly more numerous, and as luminous as optically selected quasars at similar redshift. Optical CCD images of these infrared galaxies show that nearly all are advanced mergers. Millimeter wave CO observations indicate that these interacting systems are extremely rich in molecular gas with total H2 masses 1 to 3 x 10 to the 10th power M sub 0. Nearly all of the ultraluminous infrared galaxies show some evidence in their optical spectra for nonthermal nuclear activity. It is proposed that their infrared luminosity is powered by an embedded active nucleus and a nuclear starburst both of which are fueled by the tremendous reservoir of molecular gas. Once these merger nuclei shed their obscuring dust, allowing the AGN to visually dominate the decaying starburst, they become the optically selected quasars.

Several studies have proposed that dwarf elliptical / spheroidal galaxies form through the transformation of dwarf irregular galaxies. Early and late type dwarfs resemble each other in terms of their observed colors and light distributions (each can often be represented by exponential disks), providing reason to propose an evolutionary link between the two types. The existence of dwarf spirals has been largely debated. However, more and more recent studies are using the designation of dwarf spiral to describe their targets of interest. This project seeks to explore where dwarf spirals fit into the above mentioned evolutionary sequence, if at all. Optical colors will be compared between a sample of dwarf irregular, dwarf elliptical, and dwarf spiral galaxies. The dwarf irregular and dwarf elliptical samples have previously been found to overlap in both optical color and surface brightness profile shape when limiting the samples to their fainter members. A preliminary comparison including the dwarf spiral sample will be presented here, along with a comparison of available ultraviolet and near-infrared data. Initial results indicate a potential evolutionary link that merits further investigation.

The authors present a new improved and completed version of the Flat Galaxy Catalogue (FGC) named the Revised Flat Galaxy Catalogue (RFGC) containing 4236 thin edge-on spiral galaxies and covering the whole sky. The Catalogue is intended to study large-scale cosmic streamings as well as other problems of observational cosmology. The dipole moment of distribution of the RFGC galaxies (l = 273°, b = +19°) lies within statistical errors (±10°) in the direction of the Local Group motion towards the Microwave Background Radiation.

We observed twenty-eight Seyfert 2 galaxies with the Japanese X-ray satellite, Ginga, and found Seyfert 2 galaxies, in general, have the X-ray spectral characteristics of obscured Seyfert 1 nuclei. This results agrees with the predictions from the Unified Seyfert model proposed by Antonucci and Miller. However, among the observed Seyfert 2 galaxies, there are a few galaxies with no evidence of an obscuration, contrary to the general predictions of the unified model. We note that type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGN) will contribute to the Cosmic Diffuse X-ray Background, if the unified Seyfert model can be extended to the far distant AGN such as quasars.

We present a sample of the most massive galaxies (M^{*}>10^{11}{M}_{⊙}) found at z=0 in a fully cosmological simulation performed with MASCLET (Mesh Adaptative Scheme for CosmologicaL structurE evoluTion). te{quilis04} The Upper (lower) pannel shows the merger (quiet) galaxies depending on elipticity (ɛ) and velocity vs velocity-dispersion (v/σ). We use the ssp MILES models to make our galaxies bright and study some observables of our fully cosmological synthetic galaxies.

We identify some of the most HI massive and fastest rotating disk galaxies in the local universe with the aim of probing the processes that drive the formation of these extreme disk galaxies. By combining data from the Cosmic Flows project, which has consistently reanalyzed archival galaxy HI profiles, and 3.6 micron photometry obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, with which we can measure stellar mass, we use the baryonic Tully-Fisher relationship to explore whether these massive galaxies are distinct.We discuss several results, but the most striking is the systematic offset of the HI-massive sample above the baryonic Tully-Fisher. These galaxies have both more gas and more stars in their disks than the typical disk galaxy of similar rotational velocity. The ``condensed" baryon fraction, fC, the fraction of the baryons in a dark matter halo that settle either as cold gas or stars into the disk, is twice as high in the HI-massive sample than typical, and almost reaches the universal baryon fraction in some cases, suggesting that the most extreme of these galaxies have little in the way of a hot baryonic component or cold baryons distributed well outside the disk. In contrast, the star formation efficiency, measured as the ratio of the mass in stars to that in both stars and gas, shows no difference between the HI-massive sample and the typical disk galaxies. We conclude that the star formation efficiency is driven by an internal, self-regulating process, while fC is affected by external factors. Neither the morphology nor the star formation rate of these galaxies is primarily determined by either their dark or stellar mass. We also found that the most massive HI detected galaxies are located preferentially in filaments. We present the first evidence of an environmental effect on galaxy evolution using a dynamical definition of a filament.

We identify some of the most H I-massive and fastest rotating disc galaxies in the local universe with the aim of probing the processes that drive the formation of these extreme disc galaxies. By combining data from the Cosmic Flows project, which has consistently reanalysed archival galaxy H I profiles, and 3.6 μm photometry obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, with which we can measure stellar mass, we use the baryonic Tully-Fisher (BTF) relationship to explore whether these massive galaxies are distinct. We discuss several results, but the most striking is the systematic offset of the H I-massive sample above the BTF. These galaxies have both more gas and more stars in their discs than the typical disc galaxy of similar rotational velocity. The `condensed' baryon fraction, fC, the fraction of the baryons in a dark matter halo that settle either as cold gas or stars into the disc, is twice as high in the H I-massive sample than typical, and almost reaches the universal baryon fraction in some cases, suggesting that the most extreme of these galaxies have little in the way of a hot baryonic component or cold baryons distributed well outside the disc. In contrast, the star formation efficiency, measured as the ratio of the mass in stars to that in both stars and gas, shows no difference between the H I-massive sample and the typical disc galaxies. We conclude that the star formation efficiency is driven by an internal, self-regulating process, while fC is affected by external factors. Neither the morphology nor the star formation rate of these galaxies is primarily determined by either their dark or stellar mass. We also found that the most massive H I detected galaxies are located preferentially in filaments. We present the first evidence of an environmental effect on galaxy evolution using a dynamical definition of a filament.

Optical and IR Interferometry IV at the SPIE 2014 symposium in Montreal had a strong and vibrant program. After initial fears about budget cuts and travel-funding constraints, the Program Committee had to work hard to accommodate as many quality submissions as possible. Innovative, creative and visionary work ensured that the field has progressed well, despite the bleak funding climate felt in the US, Europe and elsewhere. Montreal proved an excellent venue for this, the largest of Interferometry conferences and the only one that brings together practitioners from the world over. Let us summarize a few highlights to convey a glimpse of the excitement that is detailed in the rest of these Proceedings.

The hot gas in galaxy halos may account for a significant fraction of missing baryons in galaxies, and some of these gases can be traced by high ionization absorption systems in QSO UV spectra. Using high S/N Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph spectra, we discovered a high ionization state system at z = 1.1912 in the sightline toward LBQS 1435-0134, and two-component absorption lines are matched for Mg x, Ne viii, Ne vi, O vi, Ne v, O v, Ne iv, O iv, N iv, O iii, and H i. Mg x, detected for the first time (5.8σ), is a particularly direct tracer of hot galactic halos, as its peak ion fraction occurs near 106.1 K, about the temperature of a virialized hot galaxy halo of mass ˜ 0.5{M}* . With Mg x and Ne viii, a photoionization model cannot reproduce the observed column densities with path lengths of galaxy halos. For collisional ionization models, one or two-temperature models do not produce acceptable fits, but a three-temperature model or a power-law model can produce the observed results. In the power-law model, {dN}/{dT}={10}4.4+/- 2.2-[Z/X]{T}1.55+/- 0.41 with temperatures in the range of {10}4.39+/- 0.13 {{K}}\\lt T\\lt {10}6.04+/- 0.05 {{K}}, the total hydrogen column density is 8.2× {10}19(0.3 {Z}⊙ /Z) {{cm}}-2 and the positive power-law index indicates most of the mass is at the high temperature end. We suggest that this absorption system is a hot volume-filled galaxy halo rather than interaction layers between the hot halo and cool clouds. The temperature dependence of the column density is likely due to the local mixture of multiple phase gases.

We have studied the relationship between the nuclear (high-resolution) radio emission, at 8.4GHz (3.6cm) and 1.4GHz (20cm), the [O IV) (gamma)25.89 micron, [Ne III] (gamma)l5.56 micron and [Ne II] (gamma)l2.81 micron emission lines and the black hole mass accretion rate for a sample of Seyfert galaxies. In order to characterize the radio contribution for the Seyfert nuclei we used the 8.4 GHz/[O IV] ratio, assuming that [0 IV] scales with the luminosity of the active galactic nuclei (AGN). From this we find that Seyfert 1 s (i.e. Seyfert 1.0s, 1.2s and 1.5s) and Seyfert 2s (i.e. Seyfert 1.8s, 1.9s and 2.0s) have similar radio contributions, relative to the AGN. On the other hand, sources in which the [Ne u] emission is dominated either by the AGN or star formation have statistically different radio contributions, with star formation dominated sources more 'radio loud', by a factor of approx.2.8 on average, than AGN dominated sources. We show that star formation dominated sources with relatively larger radio contribution have smaller mass accretion rates. Overall, we suggest that 8.4 GHz/[O IV], or alternatively, 1.4 GHz/[O IV] ratios, can be used to characterize the radio contribution, relative to the AGN, without the limitation of previous methods that rely on optical observables. Key words: Galaxy: stellar content - galaxies: Seyfert - infrared: galaxies

Galaxies exhibit a wide range of physical properties (e.g., luminosities, colors, velocity widths, star formation, gas and stellar content) and the evolutionary processes responsible for these properties are numerous and complex. Understanding which processes shape the observable properties of galaxies and which others play only a minor role, inherently requires a large sample of galaxies. Moreover, if we want to understand why galaxies have the properties they do, we need a theory of galaxy formation. The standard paradigm of galaxy formation assumes that most of the matter is dark and dissipationless and that, under the influence of gravity, structures on galactic and larger scales grow hierarchically (from Gaussian initial conditions) with smaller objects forming first. Gas, moving under the gravitational influence of the dark component, dissipates and collapses at the center of the potential wells provided by the dark matter. In this picture the internal structure of the dark matter clumps and their formation history regulate the global properties of galaxies. However, these properties must also depend on how gas cools to form the dense clouds that seed star formation and how star formation affects the surrounding medium with the injection of energy and heavy elements. I show how simple, ``semi-analytic'' parameterizations are used to describe the highly non-linear aforementioned processes and to predict a wide range of properties of the galaxy population for any specific cosmogony. I then present a simple and flexible framework to extract from the numerous observable properties of disk galaxies that semi-analytic models predict, only those that are needed to characterize the sample as a whole. This framework makes use of the well-know statistical technique of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Moreover, I correlate the semi-analytic assumptions with the PCA findings and determine which, among our theoretical assumptions, shape the observable galaxies

In order to search for metals in the Ly alpha forest at redshifts z(sub abs) > 4, we have obtained spectra of high signal-to-noise ratio and moderately high resolution of three QSOs at z(sub em) > 5.4 discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These data allow us to probe to metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium at early times with higher sensitivity than previous studies. We find 16 C IV absorption systems with column densities logN(C IV) = 12.50-13.98 over a total redshift path Delta X = 3.29. In the redshift interval z = 4.5-5.0, where our statistics are most reliable, we deduce a comoving mass density of C(3+) ions Omega(sub C IV) = (4.3 +/- 2.5) x 10(exp -8) (90% confidence limits) for absorption systems with log N(C IV) > or = 13.0 (for an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology with h = 0.65). This value of Omega(sub C IV) is entirely consistent with those measured at z < 4; we confirm the earlier finding by Songaila that neither the column density distribution of C IV absorbers nor its integral show significant redshift evolution over a period of time that stretches from approx. 1.25 to approx. 4.5 Gyr after the big bang. This somewhat surprising conclusion may be an indication that the intergalactic medium was enriched in metals at z >> 5, perhaps by the sources responsible for its reionization. Alternatively, the C IV systems we see may be associated with outflows from massive star-forming galaxies at later times, while the truly intergalactic metals may reside in regions of the Ly alpha forest of lower density than those probed up to now.

We measure the projected two-point correlation function of galaxies in the 180 deg2 equatorial regions of the GAMA II survey, for four different redshift slices between z = 0.0 and 0.5. To do this, we further develop the Cole method of producing suitable random catalogues for the calculation of correlation functions. We find that more r-band luminous, more massive and redder galaxies are more clustered. We also find that red galaxies have stronger clustering on scales less than ˜3 h-1 Mpc. We compare to two different versions of the GALFORM galaxy formation model, Lacey et al. (in preparation) and Gonzalez-Perez et al., and find that the models reproduce the trend of stronger clustering for more massive galaxies. However, the models underpredict the clustering of blue galaxies, can incorrectly predict the correlation function on small scales and underpredict the clustering in our sample of galaxies with {˜ } 3 Lr^*. We suggest possible avenues to explore to improve these clustering predictions. The measurements presented in this paper can be used to test other galaxy formation models, and we make the measurements available online to facilitate this.

The BigBOSS experiment is a proposed DOE-NSF Stage IV ground-based dark energy experiment to study baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and the growth of structure with an all-sky galaxy redshift survey. The project is designed to unlock the mystery of dark energy using existing ground-based facilities operated by NOAO. A new 4000-fiber R=5000 spectrograph covering a 3-degree diameter field will measure BAO and redshift space distortions in the distribution of galaxies and hydrogen gas spanning redshifts from 0.2< z< 3.5. The Dark Energy Task Force figure of merit (DETF FoM) for this experiment is expected to be equal to that of a JDEM mission for BAO with the lower risk and cost typical of a ground-based experiment.

We describe a simple step-by-step guide to qualitative interpretation of galaxy spectra. Rather than an alternative to existing automated tools, it is put forward as an instrument for quick-look analysis and for gaining physical insight when interpreting the outputs provided by automated tools. Though the recipe is for general application, it was developed for understanding the nature of the Automatic Spectroscopic K-means-based (ASK) template spectra. They resulted from the classification of all the galaxy spectra in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7, thus being a comprehensive representation of the galaxy spectra in the local universe. Using the recipe, we give a description of the properties of the gas and the stars that characterize the ASK classes, from those corresponding to passively evolving galaxies, to H II galaxies undergoing a galaxy-wide starburst. The qualitative analysis is found to be in excellent agreement with quantitative analyses of the same spectra. We compare the mean ages of the stellar populations with those inferred using the code STARLIGHT. We also examine the estimated gas-phase metallicity with the metallicities obtained using electron-temperature-based methods. A number of byproducts follow from the analysis. There is a tight correlation between the age of the stellar population and the metallicity of the gas, which is stronger than the correlations between galaxy mass and stellar age, and galaxy mass and gas metallicity. The galaxy spectra are known to follow a one-dimensional sequence, and we identify the luminosity-weighted mean stellar age as the affine parameter that describes the sequence. All ASK classes happen to have a significant fraction of old stars, although spectrum-wise they are outshined by the youngest populations. Old stars are metal-rich or metal-poor depending on whether they reside in passive galaxies or in star-forming galaxies.

Radio synchrotron emission, its polarization and Faraday rotation of the polarization angle are powerful tools to study the strength and structure of magnetic fields in galaxies. Unpolarized synchrotron emission traces isotropic turbulent fields which are strongest in spiral arms and bars (20-30 \\upmu G) and in central starburst regions (50-100 \\upmu G). Such fields are dynamically important; they affect gas flows and drive gas inflows in central regions. Polarized emission traces ordered fields, which can be regular or anisotropic turbulent, where the latter originates from isotropic turbulent fields by the action of compression or shear. The strongest ordered fields (10-15 \\upmu G) are generally found in interarm regions. In galaxies with strong density waves, ordered fields are also observed at the inner edges of spiral arms. Ordered fields with spiral patterns exist in grand-design, barred and flocculent galaxies and in central regions. Ordered fields in interacting galaxies have asymmetric distributions and are a tracer of past interactions between galaxies or with the intergalactic medium.—Faraday rotation measures of the diffuse polarized radio emission from galaxy disks reveal large-scale spiral patterns that can be described by the superposition of azimuthal modes; these are signatures of regular fields generated by mean-field dynamos. "Magnetic arms" between gaseous spiral arms may also be products of dynamo action, but need a stable spiral pattern to develop. Helically twisted field loops winding around spiral arms were found in two galaxies so far. Large-scale field reversals, like the one found in the Milky Way, could not yet be detected in external galaxies. In radio halos around edge-on galaxies, ordered magnetic fields with X-shaped patterns are observed. The origin and evolution of cosmic magnetic fields, in particular their first occurrence in young galaxies and their dynamical importance during galaxy evolution, will be studied with

We present empirical colour transformations between Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugri and Johnson-Cousins UBVRc photometry for nearby galaxies (D < 11 Mpc). We use the Local Volume Legacy (LVL) galaxy sample where there are 90 galaxies with overlapping observational coverage for these two filter sets. The LVL galaxy sample consists of normal, non-starbursting galaxies. We also examine how well the LVL galaxy colours are described by previous transformations derived from standard calibration stars and model-based galaxy templates. We find significant galaxy colour scatter around most of the previous transformation relationships. In addition, the previous transformations show systematic offsets between transformed and observed galaxy colours which are visible in observed colour-colour trends. The LVL-based galaxy transformations show no systematic colour offsets and reproduce the observed colour-colour galaxy trends.

Ultraviolet image (left) and visual image (right) of the irregular dwarf galaxy IC 1613. Low surface brightness galaxies, such as IC 1613, are more easily detected in the ultraviolet because of the low background levels compared to visual wavelengths.

The relationships between radio galaxies and their environment are varied, complex, and evolve with cosmic epoch. Basic questions are what role the environment plays in triggering and fuelling (radio) galaxy activity what the effects of this activity are on its environment, and how radio galaxies and environment evolve. Clearly, this could be the topic of a workshop all in itself and the scope of this review will necessarily be limited. A review of the connections between environment and galaxy activity in general has been given by Heckman. First, I will briefly summarize the relationships between parent galaxy and cluster environments, and radio galaxies. A more detailed discussion of various aspects of this will be given elsewhere by F. Owen, J.0. Burns and R. Perley. I will then discuss the current status of investigations of extended emission-line regions in radio galaxies, again referring elsewhere in this volume for more detailed discussions of some particular aspects (kinematics and ionization mechanisms by K. Meisenheimer; polarization and spectral index lobe asymmetries by G. Pooley). I will conclude with a brief discussion of the current status of observations of high redshift radio galaxies.

An interactive learning service for elementary grades, "GALAXY Classroom," offers enrichment opportunities to classrooms. Students communicate via fax in response to questions posed in satellite transmitted segments. The primary market for "GALAXY Classroom" is the at-risk student. Sidebars describe costs and current offerings.…

The enigma of how the most luminous galaxies arise is closer to being solved. New simulations show that these are long-lived massive galaxies powered by prodigious gas infall and the recycling of supernova-driven outflows. See Letter p.496

respect to the bulk of galaxies (i.e. no strong galaxy outflow/inflow signal is detected); (ii) the vast majority (˜100 per cent) of `strong' H I systems and `SF' galaxies are distributed in the same locations, together with 75 ± 15 per cent of `non-SF' galaxies, all of which typically reside in dark matter haloes of similar masses; (iii) 25 ± 15 per cent of `non-SF' galaxies reside in galaxy clusters and are not correlated with `strong' H I systems at scales ≲2 Mpc; and (iv) >50 per cent of `weak' H I systems reside within galaxy voids (hence not correlated with galaxies), and are confined in dark matter haloes of masses smaller than those hosting `strong' systems and/or galaxies. We speculate that H I systems within galaxy voids might still be evolving in the linear regime even at scales ≲2 Mpc.

We study the possible rotation of cluster galaxies, developing, testing, and applying a novel algorithm which identifies rotation, if such does exist, as well as its rotational centre, its axis orientation, rotational velocity amplitude, and, finally, the clockwise or counterclockwise direction of rotation on the plane of the sky. To validate our algorithms we construct realistic Monte Carlo mock rotating clusters and confirm that our method provides robust indications of rotation. We then apply our methodology on a sample of Abell clusters with z ≲ 0.1 with member galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR10 spectroscopic data base. After excluding a number of substructured clusters, which could provide erroneous indications of rotation, and taking into account the expected fraction of misidentified coherent substructure velocities for rotation, provided by our Monte Carlo simulation analysis, we find that ∼23 per cent of our clusters are rotating under a set of strict criteria. Loosening the strictness of the criteria, on the expense of introducing spurious rotation indications, we find this fraction increasing to ∼28 per cent. We correlate our rotation indicators with the cluster dynamical state, provided either by their Bautz-Morgan type or by their X-ray isophotal shape and find for those clusters showing rotation within 1.5 h^{-1}_{70} Mpc that the significance of their rotation is related to the dynamically younger phases of cluster formation but after the initial anisotropic accretion and merging has been completed. Finally, finding rotational modes in galaxy clusters could lead to the necessity of correcting the dynamical cluster mass calculations.

The finding that massive galaxies grow with cosmic time fired the starting gun for the search of objects which could have survived up to the present day without suffering substantial changes (neither in their structures, neither in their stellar populations). Nevertheless, and despite the community efforts, up to now only one firm candidate to be considered one of these relics is known: NGC 1277. Curiously, this galaxy is located at the centre of one of the most rich near galaxy clusters: Perseus. Is its location a matter of chance? Should relic hunters focus their search on galaxy clusters? In order to reply this question, we have performed a simultaneous and analogous analysis using simulations (Millennium I-WMAP7) and observations (New York University Value-Added Galaxy Catalogue). Our results in both frameworks agree: it is more probable to find relics in high density environments.

I have developed a technique for measuring multi-variate luminosity functions of galaxies. Multivariate or multi-wavelength luminosity functions will reveal the interplay between star formation, chemical evolution, and absorption and re-emission of dust within evolving galaxy populations. By using principle component analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the problem, I optimally extract the relevant photometric information from large galaxy catalogs. As a demonstration of the technique, I derive the multiwavelength luminosity function for the galaxies in the released SDSS catalog, and show that the results are consistent with those obtained by traditional methods. This technique will be applicable to catalogs of galaxies from datasets obtained by the SIRTF and GALEX missions.

In this paper we investigate the use of the fractal dimension of galaxy isophotes in galaxy classification. We have applied two different methods for determining fractal dimensions to the isophotes of elliptical and spiral galaxies derived from CCD images. We conclude that fractal dimension alone is not a reliable tool but that combined with other parameters in a neural net algorithm the fractal dimension could be of use. In particular, we have used three parameters to segregate the ellipticals and lenticulars from the spiral galaxies in our sample. These three parameters are the correlation fractal dimension D {sub corr}, the difference between the correlation fractal dimension and the capacity fractal dimension D {sub corr} - D {sub cap}, and, thirdly, the B - V color of the galaxy.

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) occur when a star passes a little too close to a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. Tidal forces from the black hole cause the passing star to be torn apart, resulting in a brief flare of radiation as the stars material accretes onto the black hole. A recent study asks the following question: do TDEs occur most frequently in an unusual type of galaxy?A Trend in DisruptionsSo far, we have data from eight candidate TDEs that peaked in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. The spectra from these observations have shown an intriguing trend: many of these TDEs host galaxies exhibit weak line emission (indicating little or no current star-formation activity), and yet they show strong Balmer absorption lines (indicating star formation activity occurred within the last Gyr). These quiescent, Balmer-strong galaxies likely underwent a period of intense star formation that recently ended.To determine if TDEs are overrepresented in such galaxies, a team of scientists led by Decker French (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona) has quantified the fraction of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) that exhibit similar properties to those of TDE hosts.Quantifying OverrepresentationSpectral characteristics of SDSS galaxies (gray) and TDE candidate host galaxies (colored points): line emission vs. Balmer absorption. The lower right-hand box identifies thequiescent, Balmer-strong galaxies which contain most TDE events, yet are uncommon among the galaxy sample as a whole. Click for a better look! [French et al. 2016]French and collaborators compare the optical spectra of the TDE host galaxies to those of nearly 600,000 SDSS galaxies, using two different cutoffs for the Balmer absorption the indicator of past star formation. Their strictest cut, filtering for very high Balmer absorption, selected only 0.2% of the SDSS galaxies, yet 38% of the TDEs are hosted in such galaxies. Using a more relaxed cutoff selects 2.3% of

Lenticular galaxies (S0s) represent the majority of early-type galaxies in the local Universe, but their formation channels are still poorly understood. While galaxy mergers are obvious pathways to suppress star formation and increase bulge sizes, the marked parallelism between spiral and lenticular galaxies (e.g. photometric bulge-disc coupling) seemed to rule out a potential merger origin. Here, we summarise our recent work in which we have shown, through N-body numerical simulations, that disc-dominated lenticulars can emerge from major mergers of spiral galaxies, in good agreement with observational photometric scaling relations. Moreover, we show that mergers simultaneously increase the light concentration and reduce the angular momentum relative to their spiral progenitors. This explains the mismatch in angular momentum and concentration between spirals and lenticulars recently revealed by CALIFA observations, which is hard to reconcile with simple fading mechanisms (e.g. ram-pressure stripping).

We present results on luminous and dark matter mass distributions in disk galaxies from the DiskMass Survey. As expected for normal disk galaxies, stars dominate the baryonic mass budget in the inner region of the disk; however, at about four optical scale lengths (hR ) the atomic gas starts to become the dominant contributor. Unexpectedly, we find the total baryon to dark-matter fraction within a galaxy stays nearly constant with radius from 1hR out to at least 6hR , with a baryon fraction of 15-50% among galaxies. On average, only one third of the mass within 2.2hR in a disk galaxy is baryonic and these baryons appear to have had only a minor effect on the distribution of the dark matter.

In order to help select possible EM signals from gravitational wave-emitting sources, a more complete catalog of local galaxies is being created. This catalog, called the Census of the Local Universe (CLU), will attempt to find the position of all star-forming galaxies within 200 Mpc. By doing this, the area on the sky from which a gravitational wave could possibly have originated is reduced by a factor of 100. Besides providing this valuable resource for gravitational wave follow-up, the CLU survey provides an exciting new opportunity for better understanding the properties of galaxies near the same age as the Milky Way. Using spectra obtained with the Palomar 200-inch double-prime spectrograph as well as data from the WISE survey, we have created a main sequence for the CLU survey. By analyzing how this main sequence behaves in local galaxies, we can better understand the relationship between current star formation rate and total galaxy stellar mass.

By spying on a neighboring galaxy, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a young, globular-like star cluster -- a type of object unknown in our Milky Way Galaxy.

The image, taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, is online at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/25 and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc. The camera was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The double cluster NGC 1850 lies in a neighboring satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. It has two relatively young components. The main, globular-like cluster is in the center. A smaller cluster is seen below and to the right, composed of extremely hot, blue stars and fainter red T-Tauri stars. The main cluster is about 50 million years old; the smaller one is 4 million years old.

A filigree pattern of diffuse gas surrounds NGC 1850. Scientists believe the pattern formed millions of years ago when massive stars in the main cluster exploded as supernovas.

Hubble can observe a range of star types in NGC 1850, including the faint, low-mass T-Tauri stars, which are difficult to distinguish with ground-based telescopes. Hubble's fine angular resolution can pick out these stars, even in other galaxies. Massive stars of the OB type emit large amounts of energetic ultraviolet radiation, which is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. From Hubble's position above the atmosphere, it can detect this ultraviolet light.

NGC 1850, the brightest star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is in the southern constellation of Dorado, called the Goldfish or the Swordfish. This image was created from five archival exposures taken by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 between April 3, 1994 and February 6, 1996. More information about the Hubble Space Telescope is online at http://www.stsci.edu. More information about the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 is at http://wfpc2.jpl.nasa.gov.

In 2012, Metsahovi Radio Observatory together with Finnish Geodetic Institute officially became an IVS Network Station. Eight IVS sessions were observed during the year. Two spacecraft tracking and one EVN X-band experiment were also performed. In 2012, the Metsahovi VLBI equipment was upgraded with a Digital Base Band Converter, a Mark 5B+, a FILA10G, and a FlexBuff.

Neonates and infants in the neonatal intensive care unit suffer significant morbidity when intravenous (IV) catheters infiltrate. The underreporting of adverse events through hospital voluntary reporting systems, such as ours, can complicate the monitoring of low incidence events, like IV infiltrates. Based on severe cases of IV infiltrates observed in our neonatal intensive care unit, we attempted to improve the detection of all infiltrates and reduce the incidence of Stage 4 infiltrates. We developed, and initiated the use of, an evidence-based guideline for the improved surveillance, prevention, and management of IV infiltrates, with corresponding educational interventions for faculty and staff. We instituted the use of a checklist for compliance with guidelines, and as a mechanism of surveillance. The baseline incidence rate of IV infiltrates, determined by the voluntary reporting system, was 5 per 1000 line days. Following initiation of the guidelines and checklist, the IV infiltrate rate increased to 9 per 1000 line days. In most months, the detection of IV infiltrates was improved by use of the checklist. During the post-intervention period the rate of Stage 4 infiltrates, as measured by usage of nitroglycerin ointment, was significantly reduced. In conclusion, the detection of IV infiltrates was improved following our quality improvement interventions. Further, use of an evidence-based guideline for managing infiltrates may reduce the most severe infiltrate injuries. PMID:26734388

The report gives results of measurements of the rate of Chlorine (Cl2) absorption into aqueous sulfite/bisulfite -- S(IV) -- solutions at ambient temperature using a highly characterized stirred-cell reactor. The reactor media were 0 to 10 mM S(IV) with pHs of 3.5-8.5. Experiment...

In 2007 the IVS Directing Board established IVS Working Group 4 on VLBI Data Structures. This note discusses the current VLBI data format, goals for a new format, the history and formation of the Working Group, and a timeline for the development of a new VLBI data format.

In this thesis I develop Bayesian approach to model galaxy surface brightness and apply it to a bulge-disc decomposition analysis of galaxies in near-infrared band, from Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). The thesis has three main parts. First part is a technical development of Bayesian galaxy image decomposition package GALPHAT based on Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. I implement a fast and accurate galaxy model image generation algorithm to reduce computation time and make Bayesian approach feasible for real science analysis using large ensemble of galaxies. I perform a benchmark test of G ALPHAT and demonstrate significant improvement in parameter estimation with a correct statistical confidence. Second part is a performance test for full Bayesian application to galaxy bulge-disc decomposition analysis including not only the parameter estimation but also the model comparison to classify different galaxy population. The test demonstrates that GALPHAT has enough statistical power to make a reliable model inference using galaxy photometric survey data. Bayesian prior update is also tested for parameter estimation and Bayes factor model comparison and it shows that informative prior significantly improves the model inference in every aspects. Last part is a Bayesian bulge-disc decomposition analysis using 2MASS Ks-band selected samples. I characterise the luminosity distributions in spheroids, bulges and discs separately in the local Universe and study the galaxy morphology correlation, by full utilizing the ensemble parameter posterior of the entire galaxy samples. It shows that to avoid a biased inference, the parameter covariance and model degeneracy has to be carefully characterized by the full probability distribution.

Combining two color HST/WFPC2 mosaics with extensive Keck/LRIS spectroscopy, we derive physical properties for over 400 confirmed cluster members at z = 0.33, 0.58, and 0.83 to provide key tests of current CDM models of hierarchical galaxy formation. Morphological characteristics such as bulge to total luminosity, half-light radius, bulge/disk scale length, and galaxy asymmetry are measured by determining the best-fit 2D bulge + disk model for each galaxy. We rigorously test these measurements using extensive mock galaxy catalogs to quantify systematic and random errors. Utilizing quantitative structural parameters, spectral indices ([OII] λ3727, HS, and H-γ), Hubble types, internal velocity dispersions (for a subset), and galaxy colors, we find that: (1)Galaxies spanning the range of Hubble type (-5 ≤ T ≤ 8) are well-fit by a de Vaucouleurs bulge with exponential disk profile; (2)The average [OII] equivalent width of the most disk-dominated members (B/T < 0.25) is significantly higher than the average of the bulge-dominated members (B/T ≥ 0.4); (3)The physical properties, e.g. half-light radii, bulge-to-total luminosities, and bulge ellipticities, of cluster elliptical and S0 galaxies (-17.3 ≥ MBz - 5log h 70 ≥ -19.3) are consistent with the two types sharing a common parent galaxy population; (4)In these three clusters, the distributions of cluster disk sizes are indistinguishable, a result contrary to predictions from current hierarchical formation models; (5)Post- starburst (“E + A”) galaxies are a non- negligible fraction (˜5 20%) of the cluster population at these redshifts; (6)We find compelling evidence that the E + A mass distribution evolves with redshift (“downsizing”) such that E + A galaxies span the range in mass at high redshift but only low mass E + A's exist in nearby clusters.

In this paper we describe the spectroscopic and infrared properties of a sample of 25 merging galaxy pairs, selected from the catalog of Arp & Madore, and we compare them with those observed in a similar sample of interacting galaxies (Donzelli & Pastoriza). It is noted that mergers as well as interacting systems comprise a wide range of spectral types, going from those corresponding to well-evolved stellar populations (older than 200 Myr) to those that show clear signatures of H II regions with stellar populations younger than 8 Myr. However, merger galaxies show on average more excited spectra than interacting pairs, which could be attributed to lower gas metallicity. From the emission lines we also found that merging systems show on average higher (about a factor of 2) star formation rates than interacting galaxies. Classical diagnostic diagrams show that only three of 50 of the galaxies (6%) present some form of nuclear activity: two Seyfert galaxies and one LINER. However, through a detailed analysis of the pure emission-line spectra, we conclude that this fraction may raise up to 23% of the mergers if we consider that some galaxies host a low-luminosity active nucleus surrounded by strong star-forming regions. This latter assumption is also supported by the infrared colors of the galaxies. Regarding to the total infrared luminosities, the merging galaxies show on average an IR luminosity, log(Lir)=10.7, lower than that of interacting systems, log(Lir)=10.9. We find that only three mergers of the sample (12%) can be classified as luminous infrared galaxies, while this fraction increases to 24% in the interacting sample. Based on observations made at CASLEO. Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito is operated under agreement between the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata, Córdoba and San Juan.

We compare predictions of a number of empirical models and numerical simulations of galaxy formation to the conditional stellar mass functions of galaxies in groups of different masses obtained recently by Lan et al. to test how well different models accommodate the data. The observational data clearly prefer a model in which star formation in low-mass haloes changes behaviour at a characteristic redshift zc ˜ 2. There is also tentative evidence that this characteristic redshift depends on environment, becoming zc ˜ 4 in regions that eventually evolve into rich clusters of galaxies. The constrained model is used to understand how galaxies form and evolve in dark matter haloes, and to make predictions for other statistical properties of the galaxy population, such as the stellar mass functions of galaxies at high z, the star formation, and stellar mass assembly histories in dark matter haloes. A comparison of our model predictions with those of other empirical models shows that different models can make vastly different predictions, even though all of them are tuned to match the observed stellar mass functions of galaxies.

A sample of 6188 nearby galaxy structures, complete to r{sub F} = 18fm3 and containing at least 10 members each, was the observational basis for an investigation of the alignment of bright galaxies with the major axes for the parent clusters. The distribution of position angles for galaxies within the clusters, specifically the brightest, the second brightest, the third, and the tenth brightest galaxies was tested for isotropy. Galaxy position angles appear to be distributed isotropically, as are the distributions of underlying cluster structure position angles. The characterization of galaxy structures according to richness class also appears to be isotropic. Characterization according to BM types, which are known for 1056 clusters, is more interesting. Only in the case of clusters of BM type I is there an alignment of the brightest cluster member with the major axis of the parent cluster. The effect is observed at the 2 significance level. In other investigated cases the distributions are isotropic. The results confirm the special role of cD galaxies in the origin/evolution of large-scale structures.

We present the unexpected discovery of four ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in a group environment. We recently identified seven extremely low surface brightness galaxies in the vicinity of the spiral galaxy M101, using data from the Dragonfly Telephoto Array. The galaxies have effective radii of 10″-38″ and central surface brightnesses of 25.6-27.7 mag arcsec-2 in the g-band. We subsequently obtained follow-up observations with HST to constrain the distances to these galaxies. Four remain persistently unresolved even with the spatial resolution of HST/ACS, which implies distances of D\\gt 17.5 Mpc. We show that the galaxies are most likely associated with a background group at ˜27 Mpc containing the massive ellipticals NGC 5485 and NGC 5473. At this distance, the galaxies have sizes of 2.6-4.9 kpc, and are classified as UDGs, similar to the populations that have been revealed in clusters such as Coma, Virgo, and Fornax, yet even more diffuse. The discovery of four UDGs in a galaxy group demonstrates that the UDG phenomenon is not exclusive to cluster environments. Furthermore, their morphologies seem less regular than those of the cluster populations, which may suggest a different formation mechanism or be indicative of a threshold in surface density below which UDGs are unable to maintain stability.

You might think that small satellite galaxies would be distributed evenly around their larger galactic hosts but local evidence suggests otherwise. Are satellite distributions lopsided throughout the universe?Satellites in the Local GroupThe distribution of the satellite galaxies orbiting Andromeda, our neighboring galaxy, is puzzling: 21 out of 27 ( 80%) of its satellites are on the side of Andromeda closest to us. In a similar fashion, 4 of the 11 brightest Milky Way satellites are stacked on the side closest to Andromeda.It seems to be the case, then, that satellites around our pair of galaxies preferentially occupy the space between the two galaxies. But is this behavior specific to the Local Group? Or is it commonplace throughout the universe? In a recent study, a team of scientists led by Noam Libeskind (Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, Germany) set out to answer this question.Properties of the galaxies included in the authors sample. Left: redshifts for galaxy pairs. Right: Number of satellite galaxies around hosts. [Adapted from Libeskind et al. 2016]Asymmetry at LargeLibeskind and collaborators tested whether this behavior is common by searching through Sloan Digital Sky Survey observations for galaxy pairs that are similar to the Milky Way/Andromeda pair. The resulting sample consists of 12,210 pairs of galaxies, which have 46,043 potential satellites among them. The team then performed statistical tests on these observations to quantify the anisotropic distribution of the satellites around the host galaxies.Libeskind and collaborators find that roughly 8% more galaxies are seen within a 15 angle facing the other galaxy of a pair than would be expected in a uniform distribution. The odds that this asymmetric behavior is randomly produced, they show, are lower than 1 in 10 million indicating that the lopsidedness of satellites around galaxies in pairs is a real effect and occurs beyond just the Local Group.Caution for ModelingProbability that

A quantitative study of the clustering properties of galaxies in the cosmic web as a function of absolute magnitude and colour is presented using the SDSS Data Release 7 galaxy redshift survey. We compare our results with mock galaxy samples obtained with four different semi-analytical models of galaxy formation imposed on the merger trees of the Millenium simulation.

We investigate the dependence of the occurrence of bars in galaxies on galaxy properties and environment. We use a volume-limited sample of 33,391 galaxies brighter than M{sub r} = -19.5 + 5logh at 0.02 {<=} z {<=} 0.05489, drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. We classify the galaxies into early and late types, and identify bars by visual inspection. Among 10,674 late-type galaxies with axis ratio b/a > 0.60, we find 3240 barred galaxies (f{sub bar} = 30.4%) which divide into 2542 strong bars (f{sub SB1} = 23.8%) and 698 weak bars (f{sub SB2} = 6.5%). We find that f{sub SB1} increases as u - r color becomes redder and that it has a maximum value at intermediate velocity dispersion ({sigma} {approx_equal}150 km s{sup -1}). This trend suggests that strong bars are dominantly hosted by intermediate-mass systems. Weak bars prefer bluer galaxies with lower mass and lower concentration. In the case of strong bars, their dependence on the concentration index appears only for massive galaxies with {sigma} > 150 km s{sup -1}. We also find that f{sub bar} does not directly depend on the large-scale background density when other physical parameters (u - r color or {sigma}) are fixed. We discover that f{sub SB1} decreases as the separation to the nearest neighbor galaxy becomes smaller than 0.1 times the virial radius of the neighbor regardless of neighbor's morphology. These results imply that strong bars are likely to be destroyed during strong tidal interactions and that the mechanism for this phenomenon is gravitational and not hydrodynamical. The fraction of weak bars has no correlation with environmental parameters. We do not find any direct evidence for environmental stimulation of bar formation.

We derive the close pair fractions and volume merger rates for galaxies in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey with -23 < Mr < -17 (ΩM = 0.27, ΩΛ = 0.73, H0 = 100 km s-1 Mpc-1) at 0.01 < z < 0.22 (look-back time of <2 Gyr). The merger fraction is approximately 1.5 per cent Gyr-1 at all luminosities (assuming 50 per cent of pairs merge) and the volume merger rate is ≈3.5 × 10-4 Mpc-3 Gyr-1. We examine how the merger rate varies by luminosity and morphology. Dry mergers (between red/spheroidal galaxies) are found to be uncommon and to decrease with decreasing luminosity. Fainter mergers are wet, between blue/discy galaxies. Damp mergers (one of each type) follow the average of dry and wet mergers. In the brighter luminosity bin (-23 < Mr < -20), the merger rate evolution is flat, irrespective of colour or morphology, out to z ˜ 0.2. The makeup of the merging population does not appear to change over this redshift range. Galaxy growth by major mergers appears comparatively unimportant and dry mergers are unlikely to be significant in the buildup of the red sequence over the past 2 Gyr. We compare the colour, morphology, environmental density and degree of activity (BPT class, Baldwin, Phillips & Terlevich) of galaxies in pairs to those of more isolated objects in the same volume. Galaxies in close pairs tend to be both redder and slightly more spheroid dominated than the comparison sample. We suggest that this may be due to `harassment' in multiple previous passes prior to the current close interaction. Galaxy pairs do not appear to prefer significantly denser environments. There is no evidence of an enhancement in the AGN fraction in pairs, compared to other galaxies in the same volume.

We report the results of a 21-cm and optical survey of disk galaxies in the vicinity of the Pegasus I cluster of galaxies. The color--gas content relation (log(M/sub H//L/sub B/) vs (B-V)/sup T//sub 0/ ) for this particular cluster reveals the presence of a substantial number of blue, gas-rich galaxies. With few exceptions, the disk systems in Pegasus I retain large amounts of neutral hydrogen despite their presence in a cluster. This directly shows that environmental processes have not yet removed substantial amounts of gas from these disk galaxies. We conclude that the environment has had little or no observable effect upon the evolution of disk galaxies in Pegasus I. The overall properties of the Pegasus I spirals are consistent with the suggestion that this cluster is now at an early stage in its evolution.

One of the outstanding problems in cosmology is addressing the "small-scale crisis" and understanding structure formation at the smallest scales. Standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter cosmological simulations of Milky Way-size DM halos predict many more DM sub-halos than the number of dwarf galaxies observed. This is the so-called Missing Satellites Problem. The most popular interpretation of the Missing Satellites Problem is that the smallest dark matter halos in the universe are extremely inefficient at forming stars. The virialized extent of the Milky Way's halo should contain ~500 satellites, while only ˜100 satellites and dwarfs are observed in the whole Local Group. Despite the large amount of theoretical work and new optical observations, the discrepancy, even if reduced, still persists between observations and hierarchical models, regardless of the model parameters. It may be possible to find those isolated ultra-faint missing dwarf galaxies via their neutral gas component, which is one of the goals we are pursuing with the SKA precursor KAT-7 in South Africa, and soon with the SKA pathfinder MeerKAT.

This talk summarises a combined theoretical and numerical investigation of the role of chaos and transient chaos in time-dependent Hamiltonian systems which aim to model elliptical galaxies. The existence of large amounts of chaos in near-equilibrium configurations is of potential importance because configurations incorporating large numbers of chaotic orbits appear to be substantially more susceptible than nearly integrable systems to various irregularities associated with, e.g., internal substructures, satellite galaxies, and/or the effects of a high density environment. Alternatively, transient chaos, reflecting exponential sensitivity over comparatively short time intervals, can prove important by significantly increasing the overall efficiency of violent relaxation so as to facilitate a more rapid evolution towards a `well-mixed' equilibrium. Completely conclusive `smoking gun' evidence for chaos and chaotic mixing has not yet been obtained, although evidence for the presence of chaos can in principle be extracted from such data sets as provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Interestingly, however, arguments completely analogous to those applied to self-gravitating systems also suggest the presence of chaos in charged particle beams, a setting which is amenable to controlled experiments.

We analyze the photometric properties of a sample of Sbc-Sc galaxies with known redshifts, single-dish H I profiles, and Charge Coupled Device (CCD) I band images. We derive laws that relate the measured isophotal radius at muI = 23.5, magnitude, scale length, and H I flux to the face-on aspect. We find spiral galaxies to be substantially less transparent than suggested in most previous determinations, but not as opaque as claimed by Valentijn (1990). Regions in the disk farther than two or three scale lengths from the center are close to completely transparent. In addition to statistically derived relations for the inclination dependence of photometric parameters, we present the results of a modeling exercise that utilizes the 'triplex' model of Disney et al. (1989) to obtain upper limits of the disk opacity. Within the framework of that model, and with qualitative consideration of the effects of scattering on extinction, we estimate late spiral disks at I band to have central optical depths tauI(0) less than 5 and dust absorbing layers with scale heights on the order of half that of the stellar component or less. We discuss our results in light of previous determinations of internal extinction relations and point out the substantial impact of internal extinction on the scatter of the Tully-Fisher relation. We also find that the visual diameters by which large catalogs are constructed (UGC, ESO-Uppsala) are nearly proportional to face-on isophotal diameters.

We outline the selection process and analysis of sixteen E+A galaxies observed by the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at the Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey as a part of the fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV). We present their Integral field spectroscopy and analyze their spatial distribution of stellar ages, metallicities and other stellar population properties. We can potentially study the variation in these properties as a function of redshift. This work was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation via the SDSS-IV Faculty and Student Team (FAST) initiative, ARC Agreement #SSP483 to the CUNY College of Staten Island. This work was also supported by grants to The American Museum of Natural History, and the CUNY College of Staten Island through The National Science Foundation.

From studies of galaxies in the local Universe we find the masses of the galactic spheroidal component corresponds with the mass of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). This relation is known as the M(gal) M(BH) relation, and suggests a close relationship between the formation of the galaxy and the black hole. We study the metallicities near quasars at high redshift to observe this formation process in action. Associated absorption lines (AALs) provide us with a unique tool for this study, because these lines have a high probability of forming close to the quasar. Most of the work so far, using the emission lines, suggests that quasar environments are typically metal rich, with gas-phase metallicities near solar or higher at all observed redshifts. However, other independant abundance checks, such as AALs, are essential in order to confirm these results. We use very high resolution echelle spectra from VLT-UVES for 8 high redshift (z of 2 to z of 4.6) quasars, selected to contain candidate intrinsic absorbers, and ecompassing a typical rest-frame spectral range from approximatly 900 Angstroms to 2500 Angstroms, designed to include at least Lyman alpha and C IV spectral features. We perform one of the first analyses of absorption line metallicities in high redshift quasars and present lower limits on column densities, as well as estimates for the absorber locations relative to the quasar. We place rough estimates on the abundances where possible. We find covering fractions which vary with velocity, and a significant fraction of absorption lines which exhibit variability, indicating their intrinsic nature. Saturated lines inhibit concrete abundance analysis, but present excellent opportunities for future research proposals.

From studies of galaxies in the local Universe we find the masses of the galactic spheroidal component corresponds with the mass of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). This relation is known as the M(gal) - M(BH) relation, and suggests a close relationship between the formation of the galaxy and the black hole. We study the metallicities near quasars at high redshift to observe this formation process in action. Associated absorption lines (AALs) provide us with a unique tool for this study, because these lines have a high probability of forming close to the quasar. Most of the work so far, using the emission lines, suggests that quasar environments are typically metal rich, with gas-phase metallicities near solar or higher at all observed redshifts. However, other independent abundance checks, such as AALs, are essential in order to confirm these results. We use very high resolution echelle spectra from VLT-UVES, Keck-HIRES and Magellan-MIKE for 18 high redshift (z of 2 to z of 4.6) quasars, selected to contain candidate intrinsic absorbers, and encompassing a typical rest-frame spectral range from approximately 900 Angstroms to 2500 Angstroms, designed to include at least Lyman alpha and C IV spectral features. We perform one of the first analyses of absorption line metallicities in high redshift quasars and present column densities, as well as estimates for the absorber locations relative to the quasar. We place solid limits on the C/H abundances, and find a wide range of values, from one hundredth solar to several times solar. We find covering fractions which vary with velocity, indicating the intrinsic nature of the absorbing gas. Saturated lines inhibit concrete abundance analysis in some systems, but are still useful for placing limits based on Gaussian fits to the lines.

We present a deep optical spectrum of TN J0924-2201, the most distant radio galaxy at z = 5.19, obtained with FOCAS on the Subaru Telescope. We successfully detect, for the first time, the C ivλ1549 emission line from the narrow-line region. In addition to the emission-line fluxes of Lyα and C iv, we set upper limits on the N v and He ii emissions. We use these line detections and upper limits to constrain the chemical properties of TN J0924-2201. By comparing the observed emission-line flux ratios with photoionization models, we infer that the carbon-to-oxygen relative abundance is already [C/O] > -0.5 at a cosmic age of ~1.1 Gyr. This lower limit on [C/O] is higher than the ratio expected at the earliest phases of the galaxy chemical evolution, indicating that TN J0924-2201 has already experienced significant chemical evolution at z = 5.19.

Much progress has been made in understanding the effects of interaction on galaxies (see reviews in this volume by Heckman and Kennicutt). Evidence for enhanced emission from galaxies in pairs first emerged in the radio (Sulentic 1976) and optical (Larson and Tinsley 1978) domains. Results in the far infrared (FIR) lagged behind until the advent of the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS). The last five years have seen numerous FIR studies of optical and IR selected samples of interacting galaxies (e.g., Cutri and McAlary 1985; Joseph and Wright 1985; Kennicutt et al. 1987; Haynes and Herter 1988). Despite all of this work, there are still contradictory ideas about the level and, even, the reality of an FIR enhancement in interacting galaxies. Much of the confusion originates in differences between the galaxy samples that were studied (i.e., optical morphology and redshift coverage). Here, the authors report on a study of the FIR detection properties for a large sample of interacting galaxies and a matching control sample. They focus on the distance independent detection fraction (DF) statistics of the sample. The results prove useful in interpreting the previously published work. A clarification of the phenomenology provides valuable clues about the physics of the FIR enhancement in galaxies.

Galaxies are complex systems the evolution of which apparently results from the interplay of dynamics, star formation, chemical enrichment and feedback from supernova explosions and supermassive black holes. The hierarchical theory of galaxy formation holds that galaxies are assembled from smaller pieces, through numerous mergers of cold dark matter. The properties of an individual galaxy should be controlled by six independent parameters including mass, angular momentum, baryon fraction, age and size, as well as by the accidents of its recent haphazard merger history. Here we report that a sample of galaxies that were first detected through their neutral hydrogen radio-frequency emission, and are thus free from optical selection effects, shows five independent correlations among six independent observables, despite having a wide range of properties. This implies that the structure of these galaxies must be controlled by a single parameter, although we cannot identify this parameter from our data set. Such a degree of organization appears to be at odds with hierarchical galaxy formation, a central tenet of the cold dark matter model in cosmology.

As part of a study to characterize the detailed coordination behavior of Pu(IV), single crystal X-ray diffraction structures have been determined for Pu(IV) and Ce(IV) complexes with the naturally-occurring ligand maltol (3-hydroxy-2-methyl-pyran-4-one) and its derivative bromomaltol (5-bromo-3-hydroxy-2-methyl-pyran-4-one). Although Ce(IV) is generally accepted as a structural analog for Pu(IV), and the maltol complexes of these two metals are isostructural, the corresponding bromomaltol complexes are strikingly different with respect to ligand orientation about the metal ion: All complexes exhibit trigonal dodecahedral coordination geometry but the Ce(IV)-bromomaltol complex displays an uncommon ligand arrangement not mirrored in the Pu(IV) complex, although the two metal species are generally accepted to be structural analogs.

We present MMT/Megacam imaging of the Leo IV dwarf galaxy in order to investigate its structure and star formation history, and to search for signs of association with the recently discovered Leo V satellite. Based on parameterized fits, we find that Leo IV is round, with {epsilon} < 0.23 (at the 68% confidence limit) and a half-light radius of r{sub h} {approx_equal} 130 pc. Additionally, we perform a thorough search for extended structures in the plane of the sky and along the line of sight. We derive our surface brightness detection limit by implanting fake structures into our catalog with stellar populations identical to that of Leo IV. We show that we are sensitive to stream-like structures with surface brightness {mu}{sub r} {approx}< 29.6 mag arcsec{sup -2}, and at this limit we find no stellar bridge between Leo IV (out to a radius of {approx}0.5 kpc) and the recently discovered, nearby satellite Leo V. Using the color-magnitude fitting package StarFISH, we determine that Leo IV is consistent with a single age ({approx}14 Gyr), single metallicity ([Fe/H] {approx} -2.3) stellar population, although we cannot rule out a significant spread in these values. We derive a luminosity of M{sub V} = -5.5 {+-} 0.3. Studying both the spatial distribution and frequency of Leo IV's 'blue plume' stars reveals evidence for a young ({approx}2 Gyr) stellar population which makes up {approx}2% of its stellar mass. This sprinkling of star formation, only detectable in this deep study, highlights the need for further imaging of the new Milky Way satellites along with theoretical work on the expected, detailed properties of these possible 'reionization fossils'.

We present MMT/Megacam imaging of the Leo IV dwarf galaxy in order to investigate its structure and star formation history, and to search for signs of association with the recently discovered Leo V satellite. Based on parameterized fits, we find that Leo IV is round, with epsilon < 0.23 (at the 68% confidence limit) and a half-light radius of rh ~= 130 pc. Additionally, we perform a thorough search for extended structures in the plane of the sky and along the line of sight. We derive our surface brightness detection limit by implanting fake structures into our catalog with stellar populations identical to that of Leo IV. We show that we are sensitive to stream-like structures with surface brightness μ r IV (out to a radius of ~0.5 kpc) and the recently discovered, nearby satellite Leo V. Using the color-magnitude fitting package StarFISH, we determine that Leo IV is consistent with a single age (~14 Gyr), single metallicity ([Fe/H] ~ -2.3) stellar population, although we cannot rule out a significant spread in these values. We derive a luminosity of MV = -5.5 ± 0.3. Studying both the spatial distribution and frequency of Leo IV's "blue plume" stars reveals evidence for a young (~2 Gyr) stellar population which makes up ~2% of its stellar mass. This sprinkling of star formation, only detectable in this deep study, highlights the need for further imaging of the new Milky Way satellites along with theoretical work on the expected, detailed properties of these possible "reionization fossils." Observations reported here were obtained at the MMT observatory, a joint facility of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona.

The work hardening of fcc metals at large strains is discussed with reference to the linear stress-strain behavior often observed at large strains and known as Stage IV. The experimental evidence shows that Stage IV is a work hardening phenomenon that is found quite generally, even in pure fcc metals subjected to homogeneous deformation. A simple model for Stage IV in pure metals is presented, based on the accumulation of dislocation debris. Experiments are described for large strain torsion tests on four aluminum alloys. The level and extent of Stage IV scaled with the saturation stress that would represent the end of Stage III in the absence of a Stage IV. Reversing the torsion after large prestrains produced transient reductions in the work hardening. The strain rate sensitivity was also measured before and during the transient and found not to vary significantly. The microstructure observed at large strains in an Mg alloy suggest that Stage IV can occur in the absence of microband formation. Previous proposals for the cause of Stage IV are reviewed and found to be not supported by recent experimental data.

We present measurements of the shape of the stellar line-of-sight velocity distribution out to two effective radii along the major axes of the four elliptical galaxies NGC 2434, 2663, 3706, and 5018. The velocity dispersion profiles are flat or decline gently with radius. We compare the data to the predictions of f = f(E, L(sub z)) axisymmetric models with and without dark matter. Strong tangential anisotropy is ruled out at large radii. We conclude from our measurements that massive dark halos must be present in three of the four galaxies, while for the fourth galaxy (NGC 2663) the case is inconclusive.

The nuclei of some galaxies undergo violent activity, quasars being the most extreme instances of this phenomenon. Such activity is probably short-lived compared to galactic lifetimes, and was most prevalent when the universe was only about one-fifth of its present age. A massive black hole seems the inevitable end point of such activity, and dead quasars should greatly outnumber active ones. In recent years, studies of stellar motions in the cores of several nearby galaxies indicate the presence of central dark masses which could be black holes. This article discusses how such evidence might be corroborated, and the potential implications for our understanding of active galaxies and black holes.

It is well known that the interaction between two disk galaxies generates tidal spiral arms and a connection in the form of a bridge. Here we address the question of the formation of tidal arms and bridges from a dynamical point of view. We model the bridges and tails observed in interacting galaxies using the invariant manifolds associated to the Lyapunov orbits of the Lagrangian points of the galactic system, when the two galaxies are considered as two point masses in a circular orbit.

Asymmetry is a common characteristic of many disk galaxies, but we have little understanding of its causes. In this contribution we look at the H I properties of a sample of Magellanic spirals, some of the most lopsided galaxies in the local Universe, and a sample of isolated spirals. In neither case do we see evidence of a link between the presence of a companion and asymmetry; indeed, asymmetry persists even in the absence of a companion or evidence of a recent interaction. These results suggest that once it arises, asymmetry may be a very long-lived characteristic of disk galaxies.

Number counts, colors, and angular correlations of field galaxies fainter than 20th mag are summarized. Resulting conclusions regarding the presence and nature of luminosity, spectral, and clustering evolution remain contraversial. Preliminary analysis of two major spectroscopic surveys near completion suggests that by z approximately 0.5, larger numbers of very blue galaxies of moderate luminosities are found than today. The skewer-like surveys also provide new probes of galaxy clustering on scales previously unexplored (larger than 200 Mpc) and over lookback times of several billion years.

We present an unsupervised classification algorithm, that identifies natural classes of galaxy morphologies. Working on SDSS G-band imaging data, we encode the morphologies by shapelet decomposition. The algorithm employs a model-based soft clustering analysis to find groupings of similar data points. We demonstrate that the algorithm is able to clearly identify and distinguish groups of elliptical, face-on and edge-on spiral galaxies in a training data set. Based on the soft clustering results, we set up a soft classifier for a data set containing 1602 SDSS galaxies.

Three tetravalent actinide (An(IV)) hexanuclear clusters with the octahedral core [An6(OH)4O4]12+ (An(IV) = U(IV), Np(IV), Pu(IV)) were structurally characterized in solid state and in aqueous solution using single crystal X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption, IR, Raman and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The observed structure, [An6(OH)4O4(H2O)8(HDOTA)4].HCl/HNO3.nH2O (An = U (I), Np (II), Pu (III)), consists of a An(IV) hexanuclear pseudo-octahedral cluster stabilized by DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid) ligands. The six actinide atoms are connected through alternative µ3-O2- and µ3-OH- groups. EXAFS investigations combined with UV-vis spectroscopy evidence the same local structure in moderate acidic and neutral aqueous solutions. The synthesis mechanism was partially elucidated and the main physicochemical properties (pH range stability, solubility and protonation constant) of the cluster were determined. The results underline the importance (i) to consider such polynuclear species in thermodynamic models and (ii) of competing reactions between hydrolysis and complexation. It is interesting to note that the same synthesis route with thorium(IV) leads to the formation of a dimer, Th2(H2O)10(H2DOTA)2.4NO3.xH2O (IV), which contrasts to the structure of the other An(IV) hexamers.

The assembly history of dark matter haloes imparts various correlations between a halo’s physical properties and its large scale environment, i.e. assembly bias. It is common for models of the galaxy-halo connection to assume that galaxy properties are only a function of halo mass, implicitly ignoring how assembly bias may affect galaxies. Recently, programs to model and constrain the degree to which galaxy properties are influenced by assembly bias have been undertaken; however, the extent and character of galaxy assembly bias remains a mystery. Nevertheless, characterizing and modeling galaxy assembly bias is an important step in understanding galaxy evolution and limiting any systematic effects assembly bias may pose in cosmological measurements using galaxy surveys.I will present work on modeling and constraining the effect of assembly bias in two galaxy properties: stellar mass and star-formation rate. Conditional abundance matching allows for these galaxy properties to be tied to halo formation history to a variable degree, making studies of the relative strength of assembly bias possible. Galaxy-galaxy clustering and galactic conformity, the degree to which galaxy color is correlated between neighbors, are sensitive observational measures of galaxy assembly bias. I will show how these measurements can be used to constrain galaxy assembly bias and the peril of ignoring it.

This artist's concept shows what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical planet around a star tossed out of an ongoing four-way collision between big galaxies (yellow blobs). NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted this 'quadruple merger' of galaxies within a larger cluster of galaxies located nearly 5 billion light-years away.

Though the galaxies appear intact, gravitational disturbances have caused them to stretch and twist, flinging billions of stars into space -- nearly three times as many stars as are in our Milky Way galaxy. The tossed stars are visible in the large plume emanating from the central, largest galaxy. If any of these stars have planets, their night skies would be filled with the monstrous merger, along with other galaxies in the cluster (smaller, bluish blobs).

This cosmic smash-up is the largest known merger between galaxies of a similar size. While three of the galaxies are about the size of our Milky Way galaxy, the fourth (center of image) is three times as big. All four of the galaxies, as well as most other galaxies in the huge cluster, are blob-shaped ellipticals instead of spirals like the Milky Way.

Ultimately, in about one hundred million years or so, the four galaxies E will unite into one. About half of the stars kicked out during the merger will fall back and join the new galaxy, making it one of the biggest galaxies in the universe.

Using data from the first year of the SDSS-IV/MaNGA survey, we present a preliminary study of the amplitude of non-circular motions in a sample of disk galaxies. We select galaxies that have either a visual classification as a spiral galaxy by the Galaxy Zoo project (Lintott et al. 2011) and/or a measured Sersic index of less than 2.5 from the NASA-Sloan Atlas (nsatlas.org). We also remove high-inclination systems by selecting galaxies with isophotal ellipticity measurements of less than 0.6, implying an inclination of less than 65 degrees. For each galaxy, we fit a tilted-disk model to the observed line-of-sight velocities (Andersen & Bershady 2013). The geometric projection of the circularly rotating disk is simultaneously fit to both the ionized-gas (H-alpha) and stellar kinematics, whereas the rotation curves of the two dynamical tracers are allowed to be independent. We deproject the residuals of the velocity-field fit to the disk-plane polar coordinates and select a radial region that is fully covered in aziumuth, yet not undersampled by the on-sky spaxel. Similar to the approach taken by Bovy et al. (2015) for the Milky Way, we then compute the two-dimensional power spectrum of this velocity-residual map, which provides the amplitude of non-circular motions at all modes probed by the data. Our preliminary analysis reveals disk-plane non-circular motions in both the stars and ionized-gas with typical peak amplitudes of approximately 20 km/s. Additionally, our initial findings appear to demonstrate that non-circular motions in barred galaxies are stronger in the ionized gas than in the stars, a trend not seen in unbarred galaxies.

A rainbow of colors is captured in the center of a magnificent barred spiral galaxy, as witnessed by the three cameras of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The color-composite image of the galaxy NGC 1512 was created from seven images taken with the JPL-designed and built Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC-2), along with the Faint Object Camera and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. Hubble's unique vantage point high above the atmosphere allows astronomers to see objects over a broad range of wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the infrared and to detect differences in the regions around newly born stars.

The new image is online at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/16 and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc .

The image reveals a stunning 2,400 light-year-wide circle of infant star clusters in the center of NGC 1512. Located 30 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Horologium, NGC 1512 is a neighbor of our Milky Way galaxy.

With the Hubble data, a team of Israeli and American astronomers performed one of the broadest, most detailed studies ever of such star-forming regions. Results will appear in the June issue of the Astronomical Journal. The team includes Dr. Dan Maoz, Tel-Aviv University, Israel and Columbia University, New York, N.Y.; Dr. Aaron J. Barth, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.; Dr. Luis C. Ho, The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; Dr. Amiel Sternberg, Tel-Aviv University, Israel; and Dr. Alexei V. Filippenko, University of California, Berkeley.

The Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md., manages space operations for the Hubble Space Telescope for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc., for NASA under contract with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international

The joint analysis of galaxy-galaxy lensing and galaxy clustering is a promising method for inferring the growth function of large scale structure. Our analysis will be carried out on data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), with its measurements of both the distribution of galaxies and the tangential shears of background galaxies induced by these foreground lenses. We develop a practical approach to modeling the assumptions and systematic effects affecting small scale lensing, which provides halo masses, and large scale galaxy clustering. Introducing parameters that characterize the halo occupation distribution (HOD), photometric redshift uncertainties, and shear measurement errors, we study how external priors on different subsets of these parameters affect our growth constraints. Degeneracies within the HOD model, as well as between the HOD and the growth function, are identified as the dominant source of complication, with other systematic effects sub-dominant. The impact of HOD parameters and their degeneracies necessitate the detailed joint modeling of the galaxy sample that we employ. Finally, we conclude that DES data will provide powerful constraints on the evolution of structure growth in the universe, conservatively/optimistically constraining the growth function to 7.9%/4.8% with its first-year data that covered over 1000 square degrees, and to 3.9%/2.3% with its full five-year data that will survey 5000 square degrees, including both statistical and systematic uncertainties.

We present preliminary results about the galaxy morphology evolution in three low mass galaxy clusters: RX J0533.9-5809 ([VMF98]046, z 0.198), RX J1204.3-0350 ([VMF98]113, z 0.261) and RX J0533.8-5746 ([VMF98]045, z 0.295). Full photometric catalogues were created using SExtractor v2.8.0. Also, photometric redshifts (z phot ) were obtained for all the object classified as galaxies, using the ANNz code. Color-Magnitude Diagrams (CMD) were generated for those galaxies clas- sified as cluster members. Clear Red Cluster Sequences (RCS) with a me- dian slopes of -0.03 are observed for all the tree clusters. Based on the RCS best fit, a blue and a red population of galaxies were defined, observ- ing that the color distribution of the cluster [VMF98]045 is well fitted by a double Gaussian function (2 0.2), while the clusters [VMF98]046 and [VMF98]113 presents a third population between the blue and red peak dis- tributions. These preliminary results would show the existence of a possible transi- tion population between the blue and the red population in these low mass galaxy clusters at low redshifts.

We present galaxy-galaxy lensing results from 139 square degrees of Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification (SV) data. Our lens sample consists of red galaxies, known as redMaGiC, which are specifically selected to have a low photometric redshift error and outlier rate. The lensing measurement has a total signal-to-noise of 29, including all lenses over a wide redshift range $0.2 < z < 0.8$. Dividing the lenses into three redshift bins, we find no evidence for evolution in the halo mass with redshift. We obtain consistent results for the lensing measurement with two independent shear pipelines, ngmix and im3shape. We perform a number of null tests on the shear and photometric redshift catalogs and quantify resulting systematic errors. Covariances from jackknife subsamples of the data are validated with a suite of 50 mock surveys. The results and systematics checks in this work provide a critical input for future cosmological and galaxy evolution studies with the DES data and redMaGiC galaxy samples. We fit a Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) model, and demonstrate that our data constrains the mean halo mass of the lens galaxies, despite strong degeneracies between individual HOD parameters.

A new theory of the population of the Galaxy, based on the hypothesis of explosive: simultaneous and one-time-origination of life in the universe at a certain moment of its evolutionary development, is discussed in the report. According to the proposed theory, civilizations began to arise around the present moment of the history of the universe. Their possible number is limited even when their lifetime is unlimited. The age and number of simultaneously existing civilizations when their lifetime is unlimited is determined by the duration and dispersion of the time of evolution of life on different planets from the cell level to civilization. The proposed theory explains better than Drake's theory the negative results of the search for evidence of the existence of superpowerful extraterrestrial civilizations and the noncolonization of the earth.

We present research on the morphologies, spectra, and environments of ≈2350 'green valley' galaxies at 0.2 < z < 1.0 in the COSMOS field. The bimodality of dust-corrected NUV–r {sup +} color is used to define 'green valley'; it removes dusty star-forming galaxies from galaxies that are truly transitioning between the blue cloud and the red sequence. Morphological parameters of green galaxies are intermediate between those of blue and red galaxy populations, both on the Gini-asymmetry and the Gini-M{sub 20} planes. Approximately 60%-70% of green disk galaxies have intermediate or big bulges, and only 5%-10% are pure disk systems, based on morphological classification using the Zurich Estimator of Structural Types. The obtained average spectra of green galaxies are intermediate between blue and red ones in terms of [O II], Hα, and Hβ emission lines. Stellar population synthesis on the average spectra shows that green galaxies are on average older than blue galaxies but younger than red galaxies. Green galaxies and blue galaxies have similar projected galaxy density (Σ{sub 10}) distributions at z > 0.7. At z < 0.7, the fractions of M{sub *} < 10{sup 10.0} M{sub ☉} green galaxies located in a dense environment are found to be significantly larger than those of blue galaxies. The morphological and spectral properties of green galaxies are consistent with the transitioning population between the blue cloud and the red sequence. The possible mechanisms for quenching star formation activities in green galaxies are discussed. The importance of active galactic nucleus feedback cannot be well constrained in our study. Finally, our findings suggest that environmental conditions, most likely starvation and harassment, significantly affect the transformation of M{sub *} < 10{sup 10.0} M{sub ☉} blue galaxies into red galaxies, especially at z < 0.5.

Self-gravitating systems evolve toward the most tightly bound configuration that is reachable via the evolution processes that are available to them. They do this by spreading -- the inner parts shrink while the outer parts expand -- provided that some physical process efficiently transports energy or angular momentum outward. The reason is that self-gravitating systems have negative specific heats. As a result, the evolution of stars, star clusters, protostellar and protoplanetary disks, black hole accretion disks and galaxy disks are fundamentally similar. How evolution proceeds then depends on the evolution processes that are available to each kind of self-gravitating system. These processes and their consequences for galaxy disks are the subjects of my lectures and of this Canary Islands Winter School. I begin with a review of the formation, growth and death of bars. Then I review the slow (`secular') rearrangement of energy, angular momentum, and mass that results from interactions between stars or gas clouds and collective phenomena such as bars, oval disks, spiral structure and triaxial dark haloes. The `existence-proof' phase of this work is largely over: we have a good heuristic understanding of how nonaxisymmetric structures rearrange disk gas into outer rings, inner rings and stuff dumped onto the centre. The results of simulations correspond closely to the morphology of barred and oval galaxies. Gas that is transported to small radii reaches high densities. Observations confirm that many barred and oval galaxies have dense central concentrations of gas and star formation. The result is to grow, on timescales of a few Gyr, dense central components that are frequently mistaken for classical (elliptical-galaxy-like) bulges but that were grown slowly out of the disk (not made rapidly by major mergers). The resulting picture of secular galaxy evolution accounts for the richness observed in galaxy structure. We can distinguish between classical and pseudo

We have observed the λ1250 µm flux in 8 elliptical galaxies using the MPIfR 7-channel bolometer system attachet to the IRAM 30-m telescope. Five of the galaxies are detected at more than 3σ, two are tentatively detected and for one we obtained an upper limit. For two of the detected galaxies, the CO(2-1) line makes a significant contribution to the measured λ1250 µm flux. A comparison of the λ1250 µm fluxes, corrected for the CO(2-1) line contribution, with IRAS 60 and 100µm data shows that there is a colt dust component (Td~<20K) in two of the ellipticals. The other galaxies have λ1250 µm fluxes consistent with a one-temperature component, with Td typically between 20-30K.

In the last decades, a number of observational experiments have converged to establish the cold dark matter model as the "de facto" standard model for structure formation. While the cosmological paradigm appears to be firmly established, a theory of galaxy formation remains elusive, and our understanding of the physical processes that determine the observed variety of galaxy properties and their evolution as a function of cosmic time and environment is far from complete. Although much progress has been made, both on the theoretical and observational side, understanding how galaxies form and evolve remains one of the most outstanding questions of modern astrophysics. This chapter provides an introduction to ideas and concepts that underpin modern models of galaxy formation and evolution, in the currently favoured cosmological context.

KMOS is a cryogenic infrared spectrograph fed by twentyfour deployable integral field units that patrol a 7.2 arcminute diameter field of view at the Nasmyth focus of the ESO VLT. It is well suited to the study of galaxy clusters at 1 < z < 2 where the well understood features in the restframe V-band are shifted into the KMOS spectral bands. Coupled with HST imagining, KMOS offers a window on the critical epoch for galaxy evolution, 7-10 Gyrs ago, when the key properties of cluster galaxies were established. We aim to investigate the size, mass, morphology and star formation history of galaxies in the clusters. Here we describe the instrument, discuss the status of the observations and report some preliminary results.

What may first appear as a sunny side up egg is actually NASA Hubble Space Telescope's face-on snapshot of the small spiral galaxy NGC 7742. But NGC 7742 is not a run-of-the-mill spiral galaxy. In fact, this spiral is known to be a Seyfert 2 active galaxy, a type of galaxy that is probably powered by a black hole residing in its core. The core of NGC 7742 is the large yellow 'yolk' in the center of the image. The lumpy, thick ring around this core is an area of active starbirth. The ring is about 3,000 light-years from the core. Tightly wound spiral arms also are faintly visible. Surrounding the inner ring is a wispy band of material, which is probably the remains of a once very active stellar breeding ground. Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)

Information and links to downloadable maps and datasets for Level III and IV ecoregions, listed by state. Ecoregions are areas of general similarity in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources.

Geologic and mineralogic evidence indicate that the uranium present in apatite may proxy for calcium in the mineral structure as U(IV). An experimental investigation was conducted and chemical evidence was obtained that establishes the presence of U(IV) in apatite. The following analytical procedure was developed for the determination of U(IV). Carbonate-fluorapatite is dissolved in cold 1.5M orthophosphoric acid and fluorapatite is dissolved in cold 1.2M hydrochloric acid containing 1.5 g of hydroxylamine hydrochloride per 100 ml. Uranium (IV) is precipitated by cupferron using titanium as a carrier. The uranium in the precipitate is separated by use of the ethyl acetate extraction procedure and determined fluorimetrically. The validity and the limitations of the method have been established by spike experiments.

... it is called MPS IV type A (MPS IVA), and when it is caused by mutations in ... Rare Diseases Information Center (1 link) Mucopolysaccharidosis type IVA Additional NIH Resources (1 link) National Institute of ...

NASA is intending for its future software development agencies to have at least a Level 3 rating in the Carnegie Mellon University Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The CMM has built-in Verification and Validation (V&V) processes that support higher software quality. Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) of software developed by mature agencies can be therefore more effective than for software developed by less mature organizations. How is Independent V&V different with respect to the maturity of an organization? Knowing a priori the maturity of an organization's processes, how can IV&V planners better identify areas of need choose IV&V activities, etc? The objective of this research is to provide a complementary set of guidelines and criteria to assist the planning of IV&V activities on a project using a priori knowledge of the measurable levels of maturity of the organization developing the software.

The Space Launch System (SLS) will launch NASA's Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). This launch vehicle will provide American launch capability for human exploration and travelling beyond Earth orbit. SLS is designed to be flexible for crew or cargo missions. The first test flight is scheduled for December 2017. The SLS SRR/SDR provided insight into the project development life cycle. NASA IV&V ran the standard Risk Based Assessment and Portfolio Based Risk Assessment to identify analysis tasking for the SLS program. This presentation examines the SLS System Requirements Review/System Definition Review (SRR/SDR), IV&V findings for IV&V process validation correlation to/from the selected IV&V tasking and capabilities. It also provides a reusable IEEE 1012 scorecard for programmatic completeness across the software development life cycle.

I review the present status of galaxy formation models within a cosmological framework. I focus on semi-analytic models based on the Cold Dark Matter scenario, discussing the role of the different physical process involving dark matter and baryons in determining the observed statistical properties of galaxies and their dependence on cosmic time and on environment evolution. I will highlight some present problems and briefly present the main effects of assuming a Warm Dark Matter scenario.

An image of the grand design of spiral galaxy M100 obtained with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope resolves individual stars within the majestic spiral arms. (These stars typically appeared blurred together when viewed with ground-based telescopes.) Hubble has the ability to resolve individual stars in other galaxies and measure accurately the light from very faint stars. This makes space telescope invaluable for identifying a rare class of pulsating stars, called Cepheid Variable stars embedded within M100's spiral arms. Cepheids are reliable cosmic distance mileposts. The interval it takes for the Cepheid to complete one pulsation is a direct indication of the stars's intrinsic brightness. This value can be used to make a precise measurement of the galaxy's distance, which turns out to be 56 million light-years. M100 (100th object in the Messier catalog of non-stellar objects) is a majestic face-on spiral galaxy. It is a rotating system of gas and stars, similar to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Hubble routinely can view M100 with a level of clarity and sensitivity previously possible only for the very few nearby galaxies that compose our 'Local Group.'' M100 is a member of the huge Virgo cluster of an estimated 2,500 galaxies. The galaxy can be seen by amateur astronomers as a faint, pinwheel-shaped object in the spring constellation Coma Berenices. Technical Information: The Hubble Space Telescope image was taken on December 31, 1993 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC 2). This color picture is a composite of several images taken in different colors of light. Blue corresponds to regions containing hot newborn stars. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA's Office of Space Science. Credit: J. Trauger, JPL and NASA

The dynamics of the merger between a high- and a low-elliptical galaxy was studied to understand how kinematically peculiar cores in elliptical galaxies might form. Numerical simulations of mergers provide rotation curves, surface density profiles, surface density contour plots and velocity maps of the merger remnants, as well as diagnostics on the dynamics such as phase-space diagrams. This type of merger can create counterrotating cores. The core of the smaller galaxy, of higher density, is not disrupted by the primary tidal field and sinks to the center of the primary as an independent dynamical subsystem. Core counterrotation occurs only when the initial merger orbit is retrograde with respect to the pin of the primary. The remnant has higher effective radius and lower mean central surface density than the primary galaxy, but a smaller core radius. The adsorption of orbital energy and angular momentum by the primary particles greatly modifies the kinematic structure of the larger galaxy. Twisted rotation axes and isophote twists appear over the whole body of the remnant. These diagnostics may be used to determine whether observed peculiar cores might have formed via an elliptical-elliptical merger. Galaxies with counterrotating cores should show a complex velocity field, isophotal irregularities, and, in general, a slow rotation in the main body of the galaxy. The present experiments are the first galaxy-satellite merger experiments involving an active, rotating secondary. They show that part of the orbital angular momentum is absorbed by the secondary, thus the secondary contributes to its own sinking: the sinking rate depends on the orientation of the secondary spin. Long-slit spectroscopic observations of NGC 3656 are reported.

During the last decades a number of surveys of peculiar galaxies have been carried out and accurate positions become available. Since peculiarities are a possible evidence of radio emission (Wright, 1974; Sulentic, 1976; Stocke et al., 1978), the authors selected a sample of 24 peculiar galaxies with optical jet-like features or extensions in different optical catalogues, mainly the Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations (Arp and Madore, 1987) and the ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO(B) Atlas (Lauberts, 1982) for observation at the radio continuum frequency of 22 GHz. The sample is listed in a table. Sol (1987) studied this sample and concluded that the majority of the jet-like features seem to admit an explanation in terms of interactive galaxies with bridges and/or tails due to tidal effects. Only in a few cases do the jets seem to be possibly linked to some nuclear activity of the host galaxy. The observations were made with the 13.7m-radome enclosed Itapetinga Radiotelescope (HPBW of 4.3 arcmin), in Brazil. The receiver was a 1 GHz d.s.b. super-heterodine mixer operated in total-power mode, with a system temperature of approximately 800 K. The observational technique consisted in scans in right ascention, centralized in the optical position of the galaxy. The amplitude of one scan was 43 arcmin, and its duration time was 20 seconds. The integration time was at least 2 hours (12 ten-minute observations) and the sensibility limit adopted was an antenna temperature greater than 3 times the r.m.s. error of the baseline determination. Virgo A was used as the calibrator source. Three galaxies were detected for the first time as radio sources and four other known galaxies at low frequencies had their flux densities measured at 22 GHz. The results for these sources are presented.

Galaxies, like plants, show a large variety of grafts: an individual of some type connects physically with a neighborhood of same or different type. The effects of these interactions between galaxies have a broad range of morphologies depending, among other quantities, on the distance of the closest approach between systems and the relative size of the two galaxies. A sketch of the possible situations is shown in tabular form. This botanical classification is just indicative, because the effects of interactions can be notable also at relatively large separations, when additional conditions are met, as for example low density of the interacting systems or the presence of intra-cluster gas. In spite of the large variety of encounters and effects, in the literature the same terms are often used to refer to different types of interactions. Analysis indicates that only few of the situations show evident signs of interaction. They appear to be most relevant when the size of the two galaxies is comparable. Bridges and tails, like the well known case of NGC 4038/39, the Antennae, are only observed for a very low percentage of all galaxies (approx. 0.38 percent, Arp and Madore 1977). In most cases of gravitational bond between two galaxies, the effects of interactions are not relevant or evident. For instance, the detection of stellar shells (Malin and Carter 1983), which have been attributed to the accretion of gas stripped from another galaxy or to the capture and disruption of a small stellar system (Quinn 1984), requires particular observing and reduction techniques. Besides these difficulties of detection, time plays an important role in erasing, within a massive galaxy, the effects of interactions with smaller objects. This can happen on a timescale shorter than the Hubble time, so the number of systems now showing signs of interaction suggests lower limits to the true frequency of interactions in the life-time of a stellar system.

The ground-based image in visible light locates the hub imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope. This barred galaxy feeds material into its hub, igniting star birth. The Hubble NICMOS instrument penetrates beneath the dust to reveal clusters of young stars. Footage shows ground-based, WFPC2, and NICMOS images of NGS 1365. An animation of a large spiral galaxy zooms from the edge to the galactic bulge.

Recent observations have gathered a considerable sample of high-redshift galaxy candidates and determined the evolution of their luminosity function (LF). To interpret these findings, we use cosmological SPH simulations including, in addition to standard physical processes, a detailed treatment of the Pop III-Pop II transition in early objects. The simulated high-z galaxies match remarkably well the amplitude and slope of the observed LF in the redshift range 5 < z < 10. The LF shifts towards fainter luminosities with increasing redshift, while its faint-end slope keeps an almost constant value, α≈-2. The stellar populations of high-z galaxies have ages of 100-300 (40-130) Myr at z= 5 (z= 7-8), implying an early (z > 9.4) start of their star formation activity; the specific star formation rate is almost independent of galactic stellar mass. These objects are enriched rapidly with metals and galaxies identified by HST/WFC3 (?) show metallicities ≈0.1 Z⊙ even at z= 7-8. Most of the simulated galaxies at z≈ 7 (noticeably the smallest ones) are virtually dust-free, and none of them has an extinction larger than E(B-V) = 0.01. The bulk (50 per cent) of the ionizing photons is produced by objects populating the faint end of the LF (?), which JWST will resolve up to z= 7.3. Pop III stars continue to form essentially at all redshifts; however, at z= 6 (z= 10) the contribution of Pop III stars to the total galactic luminosity is always less than 5 per cent for ? (?). The typical high-z galaxies closely resemble the GRB host galaxy population observed at lower redshifts, strongly encouraging the use of GRBs to detect the first galaxies.

Are there other technical civilizations in the galaxy? Past analyses come to different conclusions. Cocconi and Morrison demonstrated in 1959 that interstellar radio communication was possible and Drake conducted the first search for beacons in 1960. The Drake equation estimates the number of galactic civilizations that are transmitting beacons as the product of the rate of star formation in the galaxy, the fraction of stars with planets, their average number of earthlike planets, the fraction with intelligent life and interstellar communication, and the average lifetime of a technical civilization. The Drake model of the galaxy contains many technical civilizations with communication but no interstellar travel. Michael Hart in 1975 strongly challenged this model. Starting with the fact that no extraterrestrials have been observed on Earth, and assuming that interstellar colonization is possible, he concluded that it was very likely that we are the first civilization in our galaxy and that searching or beacons is probably a waste of time and money. The Fermi paradox similarly reasons that if extraterrestrials exist: they should be here, and asks, Where are they? The Hart/Fermi model of the galaxy contains only our civilization and suggests we may colonize the galaxy. A third galactic model is that we are alone but will never develop interstellar travel. The fourth alternate model has many technical civilizations, with interstellar travel and colonization. The possibilities are clear and momentous. Either we are the only technical civilization in the galaxy or there are others. Technical civilizations will colonize the galaxy or not. We have four cosmic conjectures - one or many, colonization or not - but however unlikely they seem based on our limited evidence, one of these four models must be collect.

The ensemble of all star clusters in a galaxy constitutes its star cluster system. In this review, the focus of the discussion is on the ability of star clusters, particularly the systems of old massive globular clusters (GCs), to mark the early evolutionary history of galaxies. I review current themes and key findings in GC research, and highlight some of the outstanding questions that are emerging from recent work.

We study the dependence of satellite galaxy properties on the distance to the host galaxy and the orbital motion (prograde and retrograde orbits) using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data. From SDSS Data Release 7, we find 3515 isolated satellite systems of galaxies at z < 0.03 that contain 8904 satellite galaxies. Using this sample, we construct a catalog of 635 satellites associated with 215 host galaxies whose spin directions are determined by our inspection of the SDSS color images and/or by spectroscopic observations in the literature. We divide satellite galaxies into prograde and retrograde orbit subsamples depending on their orbital motion with respect to the spin direction of the host. We find that the number of galaxies in prograde orbit is nearly equal to that of retrograde orbit galaxies: the fraction of satellites in prograde orbit is 50% {+-} 2%. The velocity distribution of satellites with respect to their hosts is found to be almost symmetric: the median bulk rotation of satellites is -1 {+-} 8 km s{sup -1}. It is found that the radial distribution of early-type satellites in prograde orbit is strongly concentrated toward the host while that of retrograde ones shows much less concentration. We also find the orbital speed of late-type satellites in prograde orbit increases as the projected distance to the host (R) decreases while the speed decreases for those in retrograde orbit. At R less than 0.1 times the host virial radius (R < 0.1r{sub vir,host}), the orbital speed decreases in both prograde and retrograde orbit cases. Prograde satellites are on average fainter than retrograde satellites for both early and late morphological types. The u - r color becomes redder as R decreases for both prograde and retrograde orbit late-type satellites. The differences between prograde and retrograde orbit satellite galaxies may be attributed to their different origin or the different strength of physical processes that they have experienced through

We study the systematic bias introduced when selecting the spectroscopic redshifts of brighter cluster galaxies to estimate the velocity dispersion of galaxy clusters from both simulated and observational galaxy catalogues. We select clusters with Ngal ≥ 50 at five low-redshift snapshots from the publicly available De Lucia & Blaziot semi-analytic model galaxy catalogue. Clusters are also selected from the Tempel Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8 groups and clusters catalogue across the redshift range 0.021 ≤ z ≤ 0.098. We employ various selection techniques to explore whether the velocity dispersion bias is simply due to a lack of dynamical information or is the result of an underlying physical process occurring in the cluster, for example, dynamical friction experienced by the brighter cluster members. The velocity dispersions of the parent dark matter (DM) haloes are compared to the galaxy cluster dispersions and the stacked distribution of DM particle velocities is examined alongside the corresponding galaxy velocity distribution. We find a clear bias between the halo and the semi-analytic galaxy cluster velocity dispersion on the order of σgal/σDM ˜ 0.87-0.95 and a distinct difference in the stacked galaxy and DM particle velocities distribution. We identify a systematic underestimation of the velocity dispersions when imposing increasing absolute I-band magnitude limits. This underestimation is enhanced when using only the brighter cluster members for dynamical analysis on the order of 5-35 per cent, indicating that dynamical friction is a serious source of bias when using galaxy velocities as tracers of the underlying gravitational potential. In contrast to the literature we find that the resulting bias is not only halo mass dependent but also that the nature of the dependence changes according to the galaxy selection strategy. We make a recommendation that, in the realistic case of limited availability of spectral observations, a strictly

We present the first results of a study of the morphological and spectral evolution of galaxies within the dense cores of distant clusters at redshifts between z=0.4 and 1. The morphology, colors, concentration index, and asymmetry parameters of these cluster members are compared by using a combination of deep HST NICMOS and WFPC2 imaging, covering the rest-frame U and J bands. We also discuss the influence of dust obscuration on the derived measurements. Of particular interest is the morphology of galaxies at near-infrared wavelengths in rich clusters which show an excess of blue galaxies (Butcher-Oelmer effect), namely Abell 851 (z=0.4) and CL 1603+43 (z=0.92). We focus our study on optical/near-infrared measurements of galaxy asymmetry and central concentration, derived from a large number (>400) of objects detected within the core of Abell 851. The sensitivity and reliability of these parameters for galaxy classification and physical diagnostic purposes are tested. In conjunction with the use of recent source extraction software we are able to establish a fast, robust, and highly automated procedure of mapping the structural parameters of large galaxy samples. This work is supported by NASA, under contract NAS5-26555.

With the advent of astronomical imaging technology developments, and the increased capacity of digital storage, the production of photographic atlases of the night sky have begun to generate volumes of data which need to be processed autonomously. As part of the Tonantzintla Digital Sky Survey construction, the present work involves software development for the digital image processing of astronomical images, in particular operations that preface feature extraction and classification. Recognition of galaxies in these images is the primary objective of the present work. Many galaxy images have poor resolution or contain faint galaxy features, resulting in the misclassification of galaxies. An enhancement of these images by the method of the Heap transform is proposed, and experimental results are provided which demonstrate the image enhancement to improve the presence of faint galaxy features thereby improving classification accuracy. The feature extraction was performed using morphological features that have been widely used in previous automated galaxy investigations. Principal component analysis was applied to the original and enhanced data sets for a performance comparison between the original and reduced features spaces. Classification was performed by the Support Vector Machine learning algorithm.

The method for detection of the galaxy cluster rotation based on the study of distribution of member galaxies with velocities lower and higher than the cluster mean velocity over the cluster image is proposed. The search for rotation is made for flat clusters with a/b > 1.8 and BMI type clusters which are expected to be rotating. For comparison there were studied also round clusters and clusters of NBMI type, the second by brightness galaxy, which does not differ significantly from the cluster cD galaxy. Seventeen out of studied 65 clusters are found to be rotating. It was found that the detection rate is sufficiently high for flat clusters, over 60%, and clusters of BMI type with dominant cD galaxy, ≈ 35% . The obtained results show that clusters were formed from the huge primordial gas clouds and preserved the rotation of the primordial clouds, unless they did not experience mergings with other clusters and groups of galaxies, as a result of which the rotation was prevented.

We analysed several basic correlations between structural parameters of galaxies. The data were taken from various samples in different passbands which are available in the literature. We discuss disc scaling relations as well as some debatable issues concerning the so-called Photometric Plane for bulges and elliptical galaxies in different forms and various versions of the famous Kormendy relation. We show that some of the correlations under discussion are artificial (self-correlations), while others truly reveal some new essential details of the structural properties of galaxies. Our main results are as follows: At present, we cannot conclude that faint stellar discs are, on average, more thin than discs in high surface brightness galaxies. The `central surface brightness-thickness' correlation appears only as a consequence of the transparent exponential disc model to describe real galaxy discs.The Photometric Plane appears to have no independent physical sense. Various forms of this plane are merely sophisticated versions of the Kormendy relation or of the self-relation involving the central surface brightness of a bulge/elliptical galaxy and the Sérsic index n.The Kormendy relation is a physical correlation presumably reflecting the difference in the origin of bright and faint ellipticals and bulges.We present arguments that involve creating artificial samples to prove our main idea.

Using HST Archival images in a previous modest AR program, we have developed a new method to calibrate the effects of crowding and confusion from foreground structure on the counts of background galaxies seen through a foreground system. This new method, the Synthetic Field Method, permits us to establish the area-averaged amount of extinction through the entire thickness of the foreground galaxy. No assumptions about the spatial distribution of the obscuring material in the foreground system or about its reddening law are required. We now propose to exploit this method by applying it to deep Archival images of all 17 nearby spiral galaxies obtained earlier with the HST/WFPC2 in the Cepheid distance scale programs. Applying the method to this large sample of spirals will permit us: {1} to decrease the fundamental uncertainty in our results owing to field-to-field variations in the surface number density of the background galaxies, and {2} to begin quantifying the differences in extinction between arms and inter-arm regions, and between the inner and outer parts of spiral galaxy disks. The results of this project will provide the largest study to date of TOTAL extinction in spiral galaxies using background illuminating objects.

Oscillations of decameter type IV bursts were registered during observations of solar radio emission by UTR-2, URAN-2 and NDA in 2011-2012. Large majority of these bursts were accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which were observed by SOHO and STEREO in the visible light. Only in some cases decameter type IV bursts were not associated with CMEs. The largest periods of oscillations P were some tens of minutes. There were some modes of long periods of oscillations simultaneously. Periods of oscillations in flux and in polarization profiles were close. Detailed properties of oscillations at different frequencies were analyzed on the example of two type IV bursts. One of them was observed on April 7, 2011 when a CME happened. Another one (August 1, 2011) was registered without any CME. The 7 April type IV burst had two periods in the frames 75-85 and 35-85 minutes. Interesting feature of these oscillations is decreasing periods with time. The observed decreasing rates dP/dt equaled 0.03-0.07. Concerning type IV burst observed on August 1, 2011 the period of its oscillations increases from 17 min. at 30 MHz to 44 min. at 10 MHz. Connection of type IV burst oscillations with oscillations of magnetic arches and CMEs at corresponding altitudes are discussed. The work is fulfilled in the frame of FP7 project "SOLSPANET".

Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) are intriguing due to their continuum as well as emission line properties. The observed peculiar properties of the NLS1s are believed to be due to accretion rate close to Eddington limit. As a consequence, for a given luminosity, NLS1s have smaller black hole (BH) masses compared to normal Seyfert galaxies. Here we argue that NLS1s might be Seyfert galaxies in their early stage of evolution and as such may be low redshift, low luminosity analogues of high redshift quasars. We propose that NLS1s may reside in rejuvenated, gas rich galaxies. The also argue in favor of collisional ionization for production of FeII in active galactic nuclei (AGN).

Three billion years after the big bang (at redshift z = 2), half of the most massive galaxies were already old, quiescent systems with little to no residual star formation and extremely compact with stellar mass densities at least an order of magnitude larger than in low-redshift ellipticals, their descendants. Little is known about how they formed, but their evolved, dense stellar populations suggest formation within intense, compact starbursts 1-2 Gyr earlier (at 3 < z < 6). Simulations show that gas-rich major mergers can give rise to such starbursts, which produce dense remnants. Submillimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs) are prime examples of intense, gas-rich starbursts.With a new, representative spectroscopic sample of compact, quiescent galaxies at z = 2 and a statistically well-understood sample of SMGs, we show that z = 3-6 SMGs are consistent with being the progenitors of z = 2 quiescent galaxies, matching their formation redshifts and their distributions of sizes, stellar masses, and internal velocities. Assuming an evolutionary connection, their space densities also match if the mean duty cycle of SMG starbursts is 42(sup+40) -29 Myr (consistent with independent estimates), which indicates that the bulk of stars in these massive galaxies were formed in a major, early surge of star formation. These results suggest a coherent picture of the formation history of the most massive galaxies in the universe, from their initial burst of violent star formation through their appearance as high stellar-density galaxy cores and to their ultimate fate as giant ellipticals.

Three billion years after the big bang (at redshift z = 2), half of the most massive galaxies were already old, quiescent systems with little to no residual star formation and extremely compact with stellar mass densities at least an order of magnitude larger than in low-redshift ellipticals, their descendants. Little is known about how they formed, but their evolved, dense stellar populations suggest formation within intense, compact starbursts 1-2 Gyr earlier (at 3 < z < 6). Simulations show that gas-rich major mergers can give rise to such starbursts, which produce dense remnants. Submillimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs) are prime examples of intense, gas-rich starbursts. With a new, representative spectroscopic sample of compact, quiescent galaxies at z = 2 and a statistically well-understood sample of SMGs, we show that z = 3-6 SMGs are consistent with being the progenitors of z = 2 quiescent galaxies, matching their formation redshifts and their distributions of sizes, stellar masses, and internal velocities. Assuming an evolutionary connection, their space densities also match if the mean duty cycle of SMG starbursts is 42{sub −29}{sup +40} Myr (consistent with independent estimates), which indicates that the bulk of stars in these massive galaxies were formed in a major, early surge of star formation. These results suggest a coherent picture of the formation history of the most massive galaxies in the universe, from their initial burst of violent star formation through their appearance as high stellar-density galaxy cores and to their ultimate fate as giant ellipticals.

Using VIMOS on ESO's Very Large Telescope, a team of French and Italian astronomers have shown the strong influence the environment exerts on the way galaxies form and evolve. The scientists have for the first time charted remote parts of the Universe, showing that the distribution of galaxies has considerably evolved with time, depending on the galaxies' immediate surroundings. This surprising discovery poses new challenges for theories of the formation and evolution of galaxies. The 'nature versus nurture' debate is a hot topic in human psychology. But astronomers too face similar conundrums, in particular when trying to solve a problem that goes to the very heart of cosmological theories: are the galaxies we see today simply the product of the primordial conditions in which they formed, or did experiences in the past change the path of their evolution? ESO PR Photo 17/06 ESO PR Photo 45/06 Galaxy Distribution in Space In a large, three-year long survey carried out with VIMOS [1], the Visible Imager and Multi-Object Spectrograph on ESO's VLT, astronomers studied more than 6,500 galaxies over a wide range of distances to investigate how their properties vary over different timescales, in different environments and for varying galaxy luminosities [2]. They were able to build an atlas of the Universe in three dimensions, going back more than 9 billion years. This new census reveals a surprising result. The colour-density relation, that describes the relationship between the properties of a galaxy and its environment, was markedly different 7 billion years ago. The astronomers thus found that the galaxies' luminosity, their initial genetic properties, and the environments they reside in have a profound impact on their evolution. "Our results indicate that environment is a key player in galaxy evolution, but there's no simple answer to the 'nature versus nurture' problem in galaxy evolution," said Olivier Le Fèvre from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

We introduce the Virgo Consortium's Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) project, a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and supermassive black holes in cosmologically representative volumes of a standard Λ cold dark matter universe. We discuss the limitations of such simulations in light of their finite resolution and poorly constrained subgrid physics, and how these affect their predictive power. One major improvement is our treatment of feedback from massive stars and active galactic nuclei (AGN) in which thermal energy is injected into the gas without the need to turn off cooling or decouple hydrodynamical forces, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors. Because the feedback efficiencies cannot be predicted from first principles, we calibrate them to the present-day galaxy stellar mass function and the amplitude of the galaxy-central black hole mass relation, also taking galaxy sizes into account. The observed galaxy stellar mass function is reproduced to ≲ 0.2 dex over the full resolved mass range, 108 < M*/M⊙ ≲ 1011, a level of agreement close to that attained by semi-analytic models, and unprecedented for hydrodynamical simulations. We compare our results to a representative set of low-redshift observables not considered in the calibration, and find good agreement with the observed galaxy specific star formation rates, passive fractions, Tully-Fisher relation, total stellar luminosities of galaxy clusters, and column density distributions of intergalactic C IV and O VI. While the mass-metallicity relations for gas and stars are consistent with observations for M* ≳ 109 M⊙ (M* ≳ 1010 M⊙ at intermediate resolution), they are insufficiently steep at lower masses. For the reference model, the gas fractions and temperatures are too high for clusters of galaxies, but for galaxy groups these discrepancies can be resolved by adopting a higher

We use spectroscopic VIPERS data to analyze morphological properties of galaxies at z ˜ 1. To determine galaxy morphologies, we estimate their Sérsic index. Then, we correlate it with galaxy rest-frame colors, and other physical properties. We find that the distribution of Sérsic index of our sample is bimodal, and well correlated with the color-bimodality of the galaxy distribution. So-called green valley (i.e. intermediate colour) galaxies often have intermediate values of Sérsic index which may support the hypothesis that at least a part of this population are galaxies in the transition phase.

We utilize the hydrodynamic simulation code GIZMO to construct a non-cosmological idealized dwarf galaxy built to match the parameters of the observed Pegasus dwarf galaxy. This simulated galaxy will be used in a series of tests in which we will implement different methods of removing the dwarf’s gas in order to emulate the ram pressure stripping mechanism encountered by dwarf galaxies as they fall into more massive companion galaxies. These scenarios will be analyzed in order to determine the role that the removal of gas plays in rotational vs. dispersion support (Vrot/σ) of our galaxy.

Recycled dwarf galaxies can form in the collisional debris of massive galaxies. Theoretical models predict that, contrary to classical galaxies, these recycled galaxies should be free of nonbaryonic dark matter. By analyzing the observed gas kinematics of such recycled galaxies with the help of a numerical model, we demonstrate that they do contain a massive dark component amounting to about twice the visible matter. Staying within the standard cosmological framework, this result most likely indicates the presence of large amounts of unseen, presumably cold, molecular gas. This additional mass should be present in the disks of their progenitor spiral galaxies, accounting for a substantial part of the so-called missing baryons.

We study the spatially resolved excitation properties of the ionised gas in local galaxies by exploiting the first year of data collected by the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey. Based on the spatial distribution of the line ratios we identify 5 classes of galaxies. 1) star forming galaxies; 2) galaxies in which the central few/several kpc are characterised by LINER-like (or LIER) emission, but star formation is occurring in the outer disc (`central LIER', or cLIER); 3) galaxies in which line emission is LINER-like throughout the whole galaxy extent, without evidence for star formation (`extended LIER', or eLIER); 4) passive (line-less) galaxies; 5) a small fraction of merging/interacting galaxies with peculiar line emission.In cLIER and eLIER galaxies LIER emission is associated with old stellar populations and low equivalent width of line emission. This strongly supports the scenario where LIER emission in these galaxies is associated with ionisation by hot, evolved stars, disfavoring models associating LIER emission with shocks. Some contribution to the nuclear LIER emission by a weak AGN cannot be excluded by our data.Except for the common excitation mechanism, cLIERs and eLIERs do not appear to be part of a continuous population. cLIERs are morphologically late types, are mostly located in the green valley, tend to have younger stellar populations (though older than SF galaxies) and have regular gaseous and stellar rotation patterns. These results are in line with a scenario in which SF galaxies are quenched `inside-out', with the central regions producing stars more efficiently and thus exhausting their molecular gas supply sooner.eLIERs are morphological early types, have older stellar populations (indistinguishable from passive) and for most of them the ionised gas either does not show a rotation pattern or the rotation axis is strongly misaligned (or even counter-rotating) relative to the stellar component. These features indicate that eLIERs are likely to be passive

The dynamics of the merger between a high- and a low-luminosity elliptical galaxy has been studied to understand how kinematically peculiar cores in elliptical galaxies might form. Numerical simulations of mergers provide rotation curves, surface density profiles, surface density contour plots and velocity maps of the merger remnants, as well as diagnostics on the dynamics such as phase-space diagrams. This type of merger can create counterrotating cores. The core of the smaller galaxy, of higher density, is not disrupted by the primary tidal field and sinks to the center of the primary as an independent dynamical subsystem. Core counterrotation occurs only when the initial merger orbit is retrograde with respect to the spin of the primary. The remnant has higher effective radius and lower mean central surface density than the primary galaxy, but a smaller core radius. The adsorption of orbital energy and angular momentum by the primary particles greatly modifies the kinematic structure of the larger galaxy. Twisted rotation axes and isophote twists appear over the whole body of the remnant. These diagnostics may be used to determine whether observed peculiar cores might have formed via an elliptical-elliptical merger. Galaxies with counterrotating cores should show a complex velocity field, isophotal irregularities, and, in general, a slow rotation in the main body of the galaxy. The present experiments are the first galaxy-satellite merger experiments involving an active, rotating secondary. They show that part of the orbital angular momentum is absorbed by the secondary, thus the secondary contributes to its own sinking: the sinking rate depends on the orientation of the secondary spin. Long-slit spectroscopic observations of NGC 3656 are reported. Rotation curves indicate that NGC 3656 contains a core spinning in a direction perpendicular to the rotation in the main body of the galaxy. Velocity reversals at intermediate radii are also observed. These features

Many details of the structure of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) galaxies continue to elude researchers in the field. To shed light on some of the enigmas related to the fueling and classification of AGN, I have studied the core structure of a sample of 37 nearby Seyfert galaxies at high resolution using adaptive optics on the CFHT. This dataset consists of near-IR imaging from 1 to 3 μm (the J, H, and K bands). I first describe the instruments and observing techniques along with a presentation of the galaxy sample properties. I then outline the detailed data reduction and image processing required with adaptive optics observations, highlighting some of the associated unavoidable perils. A detailed multi-wavelength study is pursued for two nearby Seyfert galaxies, NGC3227 and NGC2992. With these objects, the current ideas of Seyfert fueling and unification of Seyfert types are scrutinized, focusing on the high spatial resolution achieved using adaptive optics in the near-IR. The dynamical processes and differing classifications of these galaxies are substantially clarified through their core morphologies. These studies show that scientific results can be established with AO data, in spite of the above mentioned artifact. For NGC2992, a spiral structure within the central 6' and a 1' extended feature are traced down to the core at the resolution of our images. We speculate, based on these observed structures, that multiple radio components are superposed which contribute to the observed figure-8 morphology in the VLA images: one associated with the spiral structure in the galaxy disk, and another flowing out of the galaxy plane. I then address whether the classification of Seyfert galaxy types can be explained via patchy dust at fairly large distances (~100 pc) from the central engine. Maps of dust extinction are constructed with the deep view afforded by the near-IR. These are compared with optical images observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to aid in

More than 440 mapped, less than 3000 to go in the Sydney-AAO Multi-object IFU (SAMI) Galaxy Survey! SAMI uses novel, photonic fused-optical fiber “hexabundles” that were developed successfully at The University of Sydney and the Australian Astronomical Observatory AAO), with support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO). The SAMI Galaxy Survey, led by Assoc. Prof. Croom, is backed by an international team. This spectro-bolometric survey mitigates against “aperture effects” that may mislead when stacking single-fiber galaxy spectra. We seek to answer questions such as “what is the physical role of environment in galaxy evolution? How is stellar mass growth and angular momentum development related in galaxies? How does gas get into and out of galaxies, and how do such flows drive star formation?” SAMI maps stellar and gas properties with 13 integral-field units (IFU) plugged onto a dozen galaxies over the 1° field of the AAT prime-focus corrector. 78% of each bundle's area is filled by sixty-one 1.6-arcsec diameter fibers that are packed closely into concentric circles then their etched, thinned cladding is fused without deforming their cores. The fiber hexabundles route to the bench-mounted AAOmega double-beam spectrograph to cover simultaneously 373-570 nm at R=1730 and 620-735 nm at R=4500. Full spatial resolution of the observing site is recovered by dithered exposures totaling 3.5 hours per field. Target stellar masses generally exceed 108 M⊙, and span a range of environments: ˜650 are within clusters of virial mass 1014-15 M⊙ at 0.03 < z < 0.06, the rest are in the z < 0.1 field with extensive frequency data ancillary to the GAMA Survey. We display some key early results of major science themes being addressed by the SAMI survey team, from rotation curve dependence on group halo mass, through galaxy winds and AGN feedback mechanisms, to oxygen abundance gradients, kinematic decomposition

The dynamical history of most merging galaxies is not well understood. Correlations between galaxy interaction and star formation have been found in previous studies, but require the context of the physical history of merging systems for full insight into the processes that lead to enhanced star formation. We present the results of simulations that reconstruct the orbit trajectories and disturbed morphologies of pairs of interacting galaxies. With the use of a restricted three-body simulation code and the help of citizen scientists, we sample 105 points in parameter space for each system. We demonstrate a successful recreation of the morphologies of 62 pairs of interacting galaxies through the review of more than 3 million simulations. We examine the level of convergence and uniqueness of the dynamical properties of each system. These simulations represent the largest collection of models of interacting galaxies to date, providing a valuable resource for the investigation of mergers. This paper presents the simulation parameters generated by the project. They are now publicly available in electronic format at http://data.galaxyzoo.org/mergers.html. Though our best-fitting model parameters are not an exact match to previously published models, our method for determining uncertainty measurements will aid future comparisons between models. The dynamical clocks from our models agree with previous results of the time since the onset of star formation from starburst models in interacting systems and suggest that tidally induced star formation is triggered very soon after closest approach.

Examining protoclusters is an important method for developing our understanding of the formation and evolution of large galaxy clusters found in the local universe. Many of the z≈2-3 protoclusters contain overdensities of dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFG) which have stellar formation rates greater than 100 Msun/year. Due to the short depletion time (≈100Myr) of molecular gas in the DSFGs contained in these protoclusters, the assembly of protoclusters is believed to be a rapid and occasional process. One possible mechanism for this rapid assembly is an enhanced frequency of interaction between galaxies. We analyzed one of these protoclusters at z= 2.1 to determine if the frequency of mergers is affected by the overdense environment. Previous works have shown that galaxies may interact more frequently in overdense environments but do not provide adequate significance to confirm this connection. Using the COSMOS2015 catalog, galaxies in the protocluster are evaluated with the following criteria for merger candidates: existence of neighboring galaxies in a 10-30 kpc radius, agreement of photometric redshift with neighbor(s) within 1σ, and stellar mass ratio calculation for merger candidates in terms of minor mergers (>4:1) and major mergers (1:1 - 4:1). Our analysis confirms that interacting galaxies are found more frequently in overdense environments (δ > 0.5). Based on further analysis using spectroscopic redshifts from the ZFIRE Survey to evaluate the uncertainty present by using the photometric redshifts, we find that σΔ/(1+z_s) = 0.05 for the photometric redshifts from z= 1.50 to z= 2.50. In the future it will be helpful to analyze mergers in other stages of interaction to see if the enhanced merger frequency is still evident.

Interacting galaxies are ideal laboratories for studying the influence of gravitational forces on galaxies. From theoretical and observational studies, we know how sensitive galaxies are to tidal interaction, from the formation of tidal tails, bridges, bursts of star formation up to a complete merging of the galaxies. The Far Infrared (FIR) properties of interacting galaxies give information on the dynamical and physical properties of these systems. Several earlier studies using the IRAS point source catalogue (IPSC) and IRAS Faint Source Survey (FSS), showed that the FIR emission from interacting/merging galaxies is enhanced with respect to isolated non-interacting galaxies; moreover, that high density environments have more influence in producing enhanced FIR emission over isolated interacting systems. In general the ratio of FIR to optical luminosity in interacting systems was found to be enhanced. It is regarded as an increased star formation (SF) rate in these systems. Later on, due to the rather high IPSC detection threshold, and its low resolution, several contradictory results have been reported. In this thesis the FIR emission from interacting galaxies is studied by using the high resolution IRAS software introduced by Bontekoe et al. (1994). This soft ware package uses a Maximum Entropy method (hereafter MaxEnt). The MaxEnt formulation is rooted in Bayesian probability theory. The raw IRAS data contains the Point Spread Function (PSF) of both the telescope mirror (60 cm --> 1 arcmin at 60 μm) and the PSF of the detectors (≃ 5 arcmin). Since there is much redundancy in the data, the MaxEnt routine can be used to remove the 5 arcmin PSF from the detectors. For many interacting galaxies this is enough to resolve them. The size of the images was chosen such that the objects could be studied including their surroundings. The absolute position calibration and flux estimates for the MaxEnt images are described in Allam et al. (1996). Because of the high

As the nodes of the cosmic web, clusters of galaxies trace the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe. They are thus privileged sites in which to investigate the complex physics of structure formation. However, the complete story of how these structures grow, and how they dissipate the gravitational and non-thermal components of their energy budget over cosmic time, is still beyond our grasp. Most of the baryons gravitationally bound to the cluster's halo is in the form of a diffuse, hot, metal-enriched plasma that radiates primarily in the X-ray band. X-ray observations of the evolving cluster population provide a unique opportunity to address such fundamental open questions as: How do hot diffuse baryons accrete and dynamically evolve in dark matter potentials? How and when was the energy that we observe in the ICM generated and distributed? Where and when are heavy elements produced and how are they circulated? We will present the ongoing activities to define the strategy on how an X-ray observatory with large collecting area and an unprecedented combination of high spectral and angular resolution, such as Athena, can address these questions.

The development of primordial inhomogeneities into the non-linear regime and the formation of the first astrophysical objects within dark matter halos mark the transition from a simple, neutral, cooling universe — described by just a few parameters — to a messy ionized one — the realm of radiative, hydrodynamic, and star formation processes. The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) polarization data show that this transition must have begun quite early, and that the universe was fully reionized some 350 million years after the Big Bang. It is a young generation of extremely metal-poor massive stars and/or `seed' accreting black holes in subgalactic halos that may have generated the ultraviolet radiation and mechanical energy that reheated and reionized most of the hydrogen in the cosmos. The detailed thermal, ionization, and chemical enrichment history of the universe during the crucial formative stages around redshift 10 depends on the power-spectrum of density fluctuations on small scales, the stellar initial mass function and star formation efficiency, a complex network of poorly understood `feedback' mechanisms, and remains one of the crucial missing links in galaxy formation and evolution studies.

We estimate that there may be up to ˜105 compact objects in the mass range 10-8-10-2 M⊙ per-main-sequence star that are unbound to a host star in the Galaxy. We refer to these objects as nomads; in the literature a subset of these are sometimes called free-floating or rogue planets. Our estimate for the number of Galactic nomads is consistent with a smooth extrapolation of the mass function of unbound objects above the Jupiter-mass scale, the stellar mass density limit and the metallicity of the interstellar medium. We analyse the prospects for detecting nomads via Galactic microlensing. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope will measure the number of nomads per-main-sequence star greater than the mass of Jupiter to ˜13 per cent, and the corresponding number greater than the mass of Mars to ˜25 per cent. All-sky surveys such as Gaia and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope can identify nomads greater than about the mass of Jupiter. We suggest a dedicated drift scanning telescope that covers approximately 100 deg2 in the Southern hemisphere could identify nomads via microlensing of bright stars with characteristic time-scales of tens to hundreds of seconds.

Many protein classification systems capture homologous relationships by grouping domains into families and superfamilies on the basis of sequence similarity. Superfamilies with similar 3D structures are further grouped into folds. In the absence of discernable sequence similarity, these structural similarities were long thought to have originated independently, by convergent evolution. However, the growth of databases and advances in sequence comparison methods have led to the discovery of many distant evolutionary relationships that transcend the boundaries of superfamilies and folds. To investigate the contributions of convergent versus divergent evolution in the origin of protein folds, we clustered representative domains of known structure by their sequence similarity, treating them as point masses in a virtual 2D space which attract or repel each other depending on their pairwise sequence similarities. As expected, families in the same superfamily form tight clusters. But often, superfamilies of the same fold are linked with each other, suggesting that the entire fold evolved from an ancient prototype. Strikingly, some links connect superfamilies with different folds. They arise from modular peptide fragments of between 20 and 40 residues that co-occur in the connected folds in disparate structural contexts. These may be descendants of an ancestral pool of peptide modules that evolved as cofactors in the RNA world and from which the first folded proteins arose by amplification and recombination. Our galaxy of folds summarizes, in a single image, most known and many yet undescribed homologous relationships between protein superfamilies, providing new insights into the evolution of protein domains. PMID:19937658

Many protein classification systems capture homologous relationships by grouping domains into families and superfamilies on the basis of sequence similarity. Superfamilies with similar 3D structures are further grouped into folds. In the absence of discernable sequence similarity, these structural similarities were long thought to have originated independently, by convergent evolution. However, the growth of databases and advances in sequence comparison methods have led to the discovery of many distant evolutionary relationships that transcend the boundaries of superfamilies and folds. To investigate the contributions of convergent versus divergent evolution in the origin of protein folds, we clustered representative domains of known structure by their sequence similarity, treating them as point masses in a virtual 2D space which attract or repel each other depending on their pairwise sequence similarities. As expected, families in the same superfamily form tight clusters. But often, superfamilies of the same fold are linked with each other, suggesting that the entire fold evolved from an ancient prototype. Strikingly, some links connect superfamilies with different folds. They arise from modular peptide fragments of between 20 and 40 residues that co-occur in the connected folds in disparate structural contexts. These may be descendants of an ancestral pool of peptide modules that evolved as cofactors in the RNA world and from which the first folded proteins arose by amplification and recombination. Our galaxy of folds summarizes, in a single image, most known and many yet undescribed homologous relationships between protein superfamilies, providing new insights into the evolution of protein domains.

We study the cool gas around a galaxy at z = 0.4729 using Keck/LRIS spectroscopy of a bright (B = 21.7) background galaxy at z = 0.6942 at a transverse distance of 16.5h -1 70 kpc. The background galaxy spectrum reveals strong Fe II, Mg II, Mg I, and Ca II absorption at the redshift of the foreground galaxy, with an Mg II λ2796 rest equivalent width of 3.93 ± 0.08 Å, indicative of a velocity width exceeding 400 km s-1. Because the background galaxy is large (>4h -1 70 kpc), the high covering fraction of the absorbing gas suggests that it arises in a spatially extended complex of cool clouds with large velocity dispersion. Spectroscopy of the massive (log M */M sun = 11.15 ± 0.08) host galaxy reveals that it experienced a burst of star formation about 1 Gyr ago and that it harbors a weak active galactic nucleus. We discuss the possible origins of the cool gas in its halo, including multiphase cooling of hot halo gas, cold inflow, tidal interactions, and galactic winds. We conclude that the absorbing gas was most likely ejected or tidally stripped from the interstellar medium of the host galaxy or its progenitors during the past starburst event. Adopting the latter interpretation, these results place one of only a few constraints on the radial extent of cool gas driven or stripped from a galaxy in the distant universe. Future studies with integral field unit spectroscopy of spatially extended background galaxies will provide multiple sight lines through foreground absorbers and permit analysis of the morphology and kinematics of the gas surrounding galaxies with a diverse set of properties and environments. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

We present first results from the third GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing (GREAT3) challenge, the third in a sequence of challenges for testing methods of inferring weak gravitational lensing shear distortions from simulated galaxy images. GREAT3 was divided into experiments to test three specific questions, and included simulated space- and ground-based data with constant or cosmologically varying shear fields. The simplest (control) experiment included parametric galaxies with a realistic distribution of signal-to-noise, size, and ellipticity, and a complex point spread function (PSF). The other experiments tested the additional impact of realistic galaxy morphology, multiple exposure imaging, and the uncertainty about a spatially varying PSF; the last two questions will be explored in Paper II. The 24 participating teams competed to estimate lensing shears to within systematic error tolerances for upcoming Stage-IV dark energy surveys, making 1525 submissions overall. GREAT3 saw considerable variety and innovation in the types of methods applied. Several teams now meet or exceed the targets in many of the tests conducted (to within the statistical errors). We conclude that the presence of realistic galaxy morphology in simulations changes shear calibration biases by ~1 per cent for a wide range of methods. Other effects such as truncation biases due to finite galaxy postage stamps, and the impact of galaxy type as measured by the Sérsic index, are quantified for the first time. Our results generalize previous studies regarding sensitivities to galaxy size and signal-to-noise, and to PSF properties such as seeing and defocus. Almost all methods’ results support the simple model in which additive shear biases depend linearly on PSF ellipticity.

The study present first results from the third GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing (GREAT3) challenge, the third in a sequence of challenges for testing methods of inferring weak gravitational lensing shear distortions from simulated galaxy images. GREAT3 was divided into experiments to test three specific questions, and included simulated space- and ground-based data with constant or cosmologically varying shear fields. The simplest (control) experiment included parametric galaxies with a realistic distribution of signal-to-noise, size, and ellipticity, and a complex point spread function (PSF). The other experiments tested the additional impact of realistic galaxy morphology, multiple exposure imaging, and the uncertainty about a spatially varying PSF; the last two questions will be explored in Paper II. The 24 participating teams competed to estimate lensing shears to within systematic error tolerances for upcoming Stage-IV dark energy surveys, making 1525 submissions overall. GREAT3 saw considerable variety and innovation in the types of methods applied. Several teams now meet or exceed the targets in many of the tests conducted (to within the statistical errors). We conclude that the presence of realistic galaxy morphology in simulations changes shear calibration biases by ~1 per cent for a wide range of methods. Other effects such as truncation biases due to finite galaxy postage stamps, and the impact of galaxy type as measured by the Sérsic index, are quantified for the first time. Our results generalize previous studies regarding sensitivities to galaxy size and signal-to-noise, and to PSF properties such as seeing and defocus. Almost all methods’ results support the simple model in which additive shear biases depend linearly on PSF ellipticity.

We present subarcsecond resolution mid-infrared (MIR) images obtained with 8-10 m-class ground-based telescopes of a complete volume-limited (DL < 40 Mpc) sample of 24 Seyfert galaxies selected from the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope nine month catalogue. We use those MIR images to study the nuclear and circumnuclear emission of the galaxies. Using different methods to classify the MIR morphologies on scales of ˜400 pc, we find that the majority of the galaxies (75-83 per cent) are extended or possibly extended and 17-25 per cent are point-like. This extended emission is compact and it has low surface brightness compared with the nuclear emission, and it represents, on average, ˜30 per cent of the total MIR emission of the galaxies in the sample. We find that the galaxies whose circumnuclear MIR emission is dominated by star formation (SF) show more extended emission (650 ± 700 pc) than active galactic nuclei (AGN)-dominated systems (300 ± 100 pc). In general, the galaxies with point-like MIR morphologies are face-on or moderately inclined (b/a ˜ 0.4-1.0), and we do not find significant differences between the morphologies of Sy1 and Sy2. We used the nuclear and circumnuclear fluxes to investigate their correlation with different AGN and SF activity indicators. We find that the nuclear MIR emission (the inner ˜70 pc) is strongly correlated with the X-ray emission (the harder the X-rays the better the correlation) and with the [O IV] λ25.89 μm emission line, indicating that it is AGN-dominated. We find the same results, although with more scatter, for the circumnuclear emission, which indicates that the AGN dominates the MIR emission in the inner ˜400 pc of the galaxies, with some contribution from SF.

The study present first results from the third GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing (GREAT3) challenge, the third in a sequence of challenges for testing methods of inferring weak gravitational lensing shear distortions from simulated galaxy images. GREAT3 was divided into experiments to test three specific questions, and included simulated space- and ground-based data with constant or cosmologically varying shear fields. The simplest (control) experiment included parametric galaxies with a realistic distribution of signal-to-noise, size, and ellipticity, and a complex point spread function (PSF). The other experiments tested the additional impact of realistic galaxy morphology, multiple exposure imaging, and the uncertainty aboutmore » a spatially varying PSF; the last two questions will be explored in Paper II. The 24 participating teams competed to estimate lensing shears to within systematic error tolerances for upcoming Stage-IV dark energy surveys, making 1525 submissions overall. GREAT3 saw considerable variety and innovation in the types of methods applied. Several teams now meet or exceed the targets in many of the tests conducted (to within the statistical errors). We conclude that the presence of realistic galaxy morphology in simulations changes shear calibration biases by ~1 per cent for a wide range of methods. Other effects such as truncation biases due to finite galaxy postage stamps, and the impact of galaxy type as measured by the Sérsic index, are quantified for the first time. Our results generalize previous studies regarding sensitivities to galaxy size and signal-to-noise, and to PSF properties such as seeing and defocus. Almost all methods’ results support the simple model in which additive shear biases depend linearly on PSF ellipticity.« less

This "death star" galaxy was discovered through the combined efforts of both space and ground-based telescopes. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope were part of the effort. The Very Large Array telescope, Socorro, N.M., and the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) telescopes in the United Kingdom also were needed for the finding. Illustration of Jet Striking Galaxy (unlabeled) Illustration of Jet Striking Galaxy (unlabeled) "We've seen many jets produced by black holes, but this is the first time we've seen one punch into another galaxy like we're seeing here," said Dan Evans, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the study. "This jet could be causing all sorts of problems for the smaller galaxy it is pummeling." Jets from super massive black holes produce high amounts of radiation, especially high-energy X-rays and gamma-rays, which can be lethal in large quantities. The combined effects of this radiation and particles traveling at almost the speed of light could severely damage the atmospheres of planets lying in the path of the jet. For example, protective layers of ozone in the upper atmosphere of planets could be destroyed. X-ray & Radio Full Field Image of 3C321 X-ray & Radio Full Field Image of 3C321 Jets produced by super massive black holes transport enormous amounts of energy far from black holes and enable them to affect matter on scales vastly larger than the size of the black hole. Learning more about jets is a key goal for astrophysical research. "We see jets all over the Universe, but we're still struggling to understand some of their basic properties," said co-investigator Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. "This system of 3C321 gives us a chance to learn how they're affected when they slam into something - like a galaxy - and what they do after that." Optical Image of 3C321 Optical Image of 3C321 The

This "death star" galaxy was discovered through the combined efforts of both space and ground-based telescopes. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope were part of the effort. The Very Large Array telescope, Socorro, N.M., and the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) telescopes in the United Kingdom also were needed for the finding. Illustration of Jet Striking Galaxy (unlabeled) Illustration of Jet Striking Galaxy (unlabeled) "We've seen many jets produced by black holes, but this is the first time we've seen one punch into another galaxy like we're seeing here," said Dan Evans, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the study. "This jet could be causing all sorts of problems for the smaller galaxy it is pummeling." Jets from super massive black holes produce high amounts of radiation, especially high-energy X-rays and gamma-rays, which can be lethal in large quantities. The combined effects of this radiation and particles traveling at almost the speed of light could severely damage the atmospheres of planets lying in the path of the jet. For example, protective layers of ozone in the upper atmosphere of planets could be destroyed. X-ray & Radio Full Field Image of 3C321 X-ray & Radio Full Field Image of 3C321 Jets produced by super massive black holes transport enormous amounts of energy far from black holes and enable them to affect matter on scales vastly larger than the size of the black hole. Learning more about jets is a key goal for astrophysical research. "We see jets all over the Universe, but we're still struggling to understand some of their basic properties," said co-investigator Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. "This system of 3C321 gives us a chance to learn how they're affected when they slam into something - like a galaxy - and what they do after that." Optical Image of 3C321 Optical Image of 3C321 The

In the past six years, more than two dozen dwarf galaxies have been discovered around the Milky Way and M31. Many of these discoveries are 100 times less luminous than any galaxy previously known, and a million times less luminous than the Milky Way itself. These discoveries have made astronomers question the very meaning of the word "galaxy", and hint that such ultra-faint dwarf galaxies may be the most numerous type of galaxy in the universe. This talk will highlight i. how we can see galaxies that are effectively invisible in images of the sky, ii. the brewing controversy over the definition of the term "galaxy", and iii. what ultra-faint galaxies can reveal about the distribution of dark matter in our Universe.

Galaxy structure comparisons as a function of redshift for the purpose of evolution studies are complicated by the fact that a given galaxy can have a significantly different morphological appearance when viewed in different wavelengths. Using CAS parameters to measure galaxy structure (concentration, asymmetry, and clumpiness), we quantify this band-pass shifting effect in the far-UV as compared to multiple rest-frame wavelengths ranging up to the near-infrared. Our study includes 2073 nearby galaxies observed by GALEX (Galaxy Evolution Explorer) in the FUV and/or NUV. Through this, we provide corrective terms that can be applied to CAS measurements of higher redshift galaxies. We also find an interesting result that elliptical galaxies appear significantly more late-type in the far-UV, with CAS parameters more similar to spiral galaxies observed at red optical wavelengths. We attribute this to ongoing star formation in extended disks. Funded by a grant through NASA.

We study 1.4 GHz radio properties of a sample of fossil galaxy groups using GMRT radio observations and the FIRST survey catalog. Fossil galaxy groups, having no recent major mergers in their dominant galaxies and also group scale mergers, give us the opportunity to investigate the effect of galaxy merger on AGN activity. In this work, we compare the radio properties of a rich sample of fossil groups with a sample of normal galaxy groups and clusters and show that the brightest group galaxies in fossil groups are under luminous at 1.4 GHz, relative to the general population of the brightest group galaxies, indicating that the dynamically relaxed nature of fossil groups has influenced the AGN activity in their dominant galaxy.

We report a detection of weak, tangential distortion of the images of cosmologically distant, faint galaxies due to gravitational lensing by foreground galaxies. A mean image polarization of ({ital p})=0.011{plus_minus}0.006 (95{percent} confidence bounds) is obtained for 3202 pairs of source (23{lt}{ital r}{sub {ital s}}{le}24) and lens (20{le}{ital r}{sub {ital d}}{le}23) galaxies with projected separations of 5{double_prime}{le}{theta}{le}34{double_prime}. Averaged over annuli of inner radius 5{double_prime} and outer radius {theta}{sub max}, the signal is string for lens-source separations of {theta}{sub max}{approx_lt}90{double_prime} consistent with quasi-isothermal galaxy halos extending to large radii ({approx_gt}100{ital h}{sup {minus}1} kpc). The observed polarization is also consistent with the signal expected on the basis of simulations incorporating measured properties of local galaxies and modest extrapolations of the observed redshift distribution of faint galaxies (to which the results are somewhat sensitive). From the simulations we obtain formal best-fit model parameters for the dark halos of the lens galaxies that consist of a characteristic circular velocity of {ital V}{asterisk}{approximately}220{plus_minus}80 kms{sup {minus}1} and characteristic radial extent of {ital s}{asterisk}{approx_gt}100{ital h}{sup {minus}1} kpc. The predicted polarization based on the model is relatively insensitive to the characteristic radial extent of the halos, {ital s}{asterisk}, and very small halos ({ital s}{asterisk}{approximately}10{ital h}{sup {minus}1} kpc) are excluded only at the 2 {sigma} level. The formal best-fit halo parameters imply typical masses for the lens galaxies within a radius of 100{ital h}{sup -1} kpc on the order of 1.0{sup +1.2}{sub {minus}0.5}{times}10{sup 12} {ital h}{sup {minus}1}{ital M}{sub {circle_dot}} (90% confidence bounds), in agreement with recent dynamical estimates of the masses of local spiral galaxies.

display broad high-excitation emission lines, as expected from type I active galactic nuclei, although the strength of lines such as N V and C IV will obviously depend on the chemical enrichment of the host galaxy. OBGs could potentially be revealed via Hubble Space Telescope follow-up imaging of samples of brighter Lyman-break galaxies provided by wide-area ground-based surveys such as UltraVISTA, and should be easily uncovered and studied with instruments aboard the James Webb Space Telescope. The discovery and characterization of OBGs would provide important insights into the formation of the first BH, and their influence on early galaxy formation.

I describe some recent observations of large-scale structure in the galaxy distribution. The best constraints come from two-dimensional galaxy surveys and studies of angular correlation functions. Results from galaxy redshift surveys are much less precise but are consistent with the angular correlations, provided the distortions in mapping between real-space and redshift-space are relatively weak. The galaxy two-point correlation function, rich-cluster two-point correlation function, and galaxy-cluster cross-correlation function are all well described on large scales ( greater, similar 20h-1 Mpc, where the Hubble constant, H0 = 100h km.s-1.Mpc; 1 pc = 3.09 x 10(16) m) by the power spectrum of an initially scale-invariant, adiabatic, cold-dark-matter Universe with Gamma = Omegah approximately 0.2. I discuss how this fits in with the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite detection of large-scale anisotropies in the microwave background radiation and other measures of large-scale structure in the Universe. PMID:11607400

We have supplemented our code, which computes the evolution of the physical state of a representative piece of the universe to include, not only the dynamics of dark matter (with a standard PM code), and the hydrodynamics of the gaseous component (including detailed collisional and radiative processes), but also galaxy formation on a heuristic but plausible basis. If, within a cell the gas is Jeans' unstable, collapsing, and cooling rapidly, it is transformed to galaxy subunits, which are then followed with a collisionless code. After grouping them into galaxies, we estimate the relative distributions of galaxies and dark matter and the relative velocities of galaxies and dark matter. In a large scale CDM run of 80/h Mpc size with 8 x 10 exp 6 cells and dark matter particles, we find that physical bias b is on the 8/h Mpc scale is about 1.6 and increases towards smaller scales, and that velocity bias is about 0.8 on the same scale. The comparable HDM simulation is highly biased with b = 2.7 on the 8/h Mpc scale. Implications of these results are discussed in the light of the COBE observations which provide an accurate normalization for the initial power spectrum. CDM can be ruled out on the basis of too large a predicted small scale velocity dispersion at greater than 95 percent confidence level.

In the past decade, infrared observations have shown that interacting and merging galaxies have higher luminosities than isolated systems, with the luminosities in mergers as high as 10(exp 12) solar luminosity. However, the origin of the luminosity found in mergers is controversial, with two main competing theories. The first is the starburst scenario. As two gas rich galaxies start to merge, cloud-cloud collisions induce fast shocks in the molecular gas. This gas cools, collapses, and fragments, producing a blast of star formation. The main rival to this theory is that the infrared luminosity is produced by a dust embedded active nucleus, the merger of two gas rich galaxies providing the 'fuel to feed the monster'. There has even been speculation that there is an evolutionary link between starbursts and active nuclei, and that possibly active galactic nuclei (AGN's) and QSO's were formed from a starburst. Assuming that the infrared luminosity in merging galaxies is due to star formation, there should be ionizing photons produced from the high mass stars, giving rise to recombination line emission. The objective is to use a simple starburst model to test the hypothesis that the extreme infrared luminosity of merging galaxies is due to a starburst.

A number of active galaxies are now known at very large redshifts, some of them even have properties suggestive of galaxies in the process of formation. They commonly show strong Ly-alpha emission, at least some of which appears to be ionized by young stars. Inferred star formation rates are in the range approximately = 100-500 solar mass/yr. An important question is: are there radio-quiet, field counterparts of these systems at comparable redshifts? Whereas, we are probably already observing some evolutionary and formative processes of distant radio galaxies, the ultimate goal is to observe normal galaxies at the epoch when most of their stars form. We have, thus, started a search for emission-line objects at large redshifts, ostensibly young and forming galaxies. Our method is to search for strong line emission (hopefully Ly alpha) employing two techniques: a direct, narrow-band imaging search, using a Fabry-Perot interferometer; and a serendipitous long-slit spectroscopic search.

We present mid-infrared spectra and photometry from the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope for 51 OH megamasers (OHMs), along with 15 galaxies confirmed to have no megamaser emission above L {sub OH} = 10{sup 2.3} L {sub sun}. The majority of galaxies display moderate-to-deep 9.7 {mu}m amorphous silicate absorption, with OHM galaxies showing stronger average absorption and steeper 20-30 {mu}m continuum emission than non-masing galaxies. Emission from multiple polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), especially at 6.2, 7.7, and 11.3 {mu}m, is detected in almost all systems. Fine-structure atomic emission (including [Ne II], [Ne III], [S III], and [S IV]) and multiple H{sub 2} rotational transitions are observed in more than 90% of the sample. A subset of galaxies show emission from rarer atomic lines, such as [Ne V], [O IV], and [Fe II]. Fifty percent of the OHMs show absorption from water ice and hydrogenated amorphous carbon grains, while absorption features from CO{sub 2}, HCN, C{sub 2}H{sub 2}, and crystalline silicates are also seen in several OHMs. Column densities of OH derived from 34.6 {mu}m OH absorption are similar to those derived from 1667 MHz OH absorption in non-masing galaxies, indicating that the abundance of masing molecules is similar for both samples. This data paper presents full mid-infrared spectra for each galaxy, along with measurements of line fluxes and equivalent widths, absorption feature depths, and spectral indices.

New editions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence and Memory scales are now available. Yet, given the significant changes in these new releases and the skepticism that has met them, independent evidence on their psychometric properties is much needed but currently lacking. We administered the WAIS-IV and the Older Adult version of the WMS-IV to 145…

The luminosity function is an important quantity for analysis of large scale structure statistics, interpretation of galaxy counts (Lin & Kirshner 1996). We investigate the luminosity function of galaxy clusters. This is performed by counting the brightness of galaxies belonging to clusters in PF Catalogue. The obtained luminosity function is significantly different than that obtained both for optical and radiogalaxies (Machalski & Godowski 2000). The implications of this result for theories of galaxy formation are discussed as well.

We describe the construction of catalogues of galaxy clusters from the APM Galaxy survey using an automated algorithm based on Abell-like selection criteria. We investigate the effects of varying several parameters in our selection algorithm, including the magnitude range and radius from the cluster centre used to estimate the cluster richnesses. We quantify the accuracy of the photometric distance estimates by comparing them with measured redshifts, and we investigate the stability and completeness of the resulting catalogues. We find that the angular correlation functions for different cluster catalogues are in good agreement with one another, and are also consistent with the observed amplitude of the spatial correlation function of rich clusters.

We discuss the hardware design of SERENDIP IV, which will be deployed in early 1997 for a 21-cm sky survey at the National Astronomy and Ionospheric Center's 305-m radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. SERENDIP IV is a 167 million channel spectrum analyzer, covering a 100-Mhz bandwidth, with 0.6-Hz resolution and a 1.7-s integration time. SERENDIP IV's modular design incorporates a bank of digital mixers and filters to separate the 100 MHz band into 40 2.5 MHz subbands. Each 2.5 MHz subband is further broken down into 0.6 Hz bins by means of a four million point fast Fourier transform. The resulting power spectra are analyzed by 40 high-speed processors. Narrowband signals having power significantly above background noise levels are recorded along with telescope coordinates, time, and frequency. The data are sent in real time to Berkeley for analysis.

Staff of the Telemetry Technology Development Department (2664) have, in support of the U.S. Interior Department Mineral Management Services (MMS), developed and deployed the Seafloor Earthquake Measurement System IV (SEMS IV). The result of this development project is a series of three fully operational seafloor seismic monitor systems located at offshore platforms: Eureka, Grace, and Irene. The instrument probes are embedded from three to seven feet into the seafloor and hardwired to seismic data recorders installed top side at the offshore platforms. The probes and underwater cables were designed to survive the seafloor environment with an operation life of five years. The units have been operational for two years and have produced recordings of several minor earthquakes in that time. Sandia Labs will transfer operation of SEMS IV to MMS contractors in the coming months. 29 figs., 25 tabs.

... compliance with the Department's regulations listed in 45 CFR 1355.30. (c) The State plans and plan... requirements for titles IV PUBLIC WELFARE Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) OFFICE OF HUMAN.... 1355.21 State plan requirements for titles IV-E and IV-B. (a) The State plans for titles IV-E and...

Current type 2 diabetes therapies are mainly targeted at stimulating pancreatic beta-cell secretion and reducing insulin resistance. A number of alternative therapies are currently being developed to take advantage of the actions of the incretin hormones Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) and Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide (GIP). These hormones are released from the small intestine in response to nutrient ingestion and stimulate insulin secretion in a glucose-dependent manner. One approach to potentiating their actions is based on inhibiting dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV), the major enzyme responsible for degrading the incretins in vivo. DPP IV exhibits characteristics that have allowed the development of specific orally administered inhibitors with proven efficacy in improving glucose tolerance in animal models of diabetes. A number of clinical trials have demonstrated that DPP IV inhibitors are effective in improving glucose disposal and reducing hemoglobin A1c levels in type 2 diabetic patients and one inhibitor, sitagliptin, is now in therapeutic use, with others likely to receive FDA approval in the near future. Studies aimed at elucidating the mode of action of the inhibitors are still ongoing. Both enhancement of insulin secretion and reduction in glucagon secretion, resulting from the blockade of incretin degradation, are believed to play important roles in DPP IV inhibitor action. Preclinical studies indicate that increased levels of incretins improve beta-cell secretory function and exert effects on beta-cell mitogenesis and survival that can preserve beta-cell mass. Roles for other hormones, neuropeptides and cytokines in DPP IV inhibitor-medicated responses are also possible.

The Galaxy's large spherical halo (see GALACTICMETAL-POOR HALO and HALO, GALACTIC) may harboras many as several hundred billion WHITE DWARFS, apopulation as large in number as the total number of stars in theGalaxy's disk (see DISK GALAXIES and GALACTIC THIN DISK). Although this assertion iscontroversial, several astronomical surveys provide strong support for it andthe implications affect fields ...

Observations of galaxies using large surveys (SDSS, COSMOS, PRIMUS, etc.) have firmly established a global view of galaxy properties out to z~1. Galaxies are broadly divided into two classes: blue, typically disk-like star forming galaxies and red, typically elliptical quiescent ones with little star formation. The star formation rates (SFR) and stellar masses of star forming galaxies form an empirical relationship referred to as the "star formation main sequence". Over cosmic time, this sequence undergoes significant decline in SFR and causes the overall cosmic star formation decline. Simultaneously, physical processes cause significant fractions of star forming galaxies to "quench" their star formation. Hierarchical structure formation and cosmological models provide precise predictions of the evolution of the underying dark matter, which serve as the foundation for these detailed trends and their evolution. Whatever trends we observe in galaxy properties can be interpreted within the narrative of the underlying dark matter and halo occupation framework. More importantly, through careful statistical treatment and precise measurements, this connection can be utilized to better constrain and understand key elements of galaxy evolution. In this spirit, for my dissertation I connect observations of evolving galaxy properties to the framework of the hierarchical Universe and use it to better understand physical processes responsible for the cessation of star formation in galaxies. For instance, through this approach, I constrain the quenching timescale of central galaxies and find that they are significantly longer than the quenching timescale of satellite galaxies.

The Third Teton Summer School on Astrophysics discussed the formation of galaxies, star formation in galaxies, galaxies and quasars at high red shift, and the intergalactic and intercluster medium and cooling flows. Observation and theoretical research on these topics was presented at the meeting and summaries of the contributed papers are included in this volume.

We present new calculations for evolving light in galaxies which allow the color distribution expected for faint field galaxies to be computed. We normalize the expected counts to data in catalogs of bright galaxies, and find that an excellent fit to Kron's faint photometry can be achieved with a Friedmann model and no other special assumptions.

The current ΛCDM cosmological model predicts that galaxy evolution proceeds more slowly in lower density environments, suggesting that voids are a prime location to search for relatively pristine galaxies that are representative of the building blocks of early massive galaxies. To test the assumption that void galaxies are more pristine, we compare the evolutionary properties of a sample of dwarf galaxies selected specifically to lie in voids with a sample of similar isolated dwarf galaxies in average density environments. We measure gas-phase oxygen abundances and gas fractions for eight dwarf galaxies (M{sub r} > –16.2), carefully selected to reside within the lowest density environments of seven voids, and apply the same calibrations to existing samples of isolated dwarf galaxies. We find no significant difference between these void dwarf galaxies and the isolated dwarf galaxies, suggesting that dwarf galaxy chemical evolution proceeds independent of the large-scale environment. While this sample is too small to draw strong conclusions, it suggests that external gas accretion is playing a limited role in the chemical evolution of these systems, and that this evolution is instead dominated mainly by the internal secular processes that are linking the simultaneous growth and enrichment of these galaxies.

In my talk I look at the origin of disk galaxies from the theoretical perspective. In particular I look at simple ways to use the properties of disk galaxies, and their evolution, to test our current paradigm for galaxy formation within the CDM scenario.

We give a review of the various VLBI-derived nutation time series provided by the different operational analysis centers of the IVS and three combination centers (IVS, IERS EOP Center, and Rapid Service/Prediction Center). We focus on the stability of small nutation amplitudes, including the free core nutation and other atmospherically-driven nutations, that are of interest for improving Earth models. We discuss the possible origins of the differences (software packaged, inversion methods, analysis configuration including a priori and estimation strategy) and the consequences for scientific exploitation of the data, especially in terms of nutation modeling and inference of the Earth's internal structure.

The class V transducer has found popularity in a diverse range of applications such as surgical and underwater projection systems, where high vibration amplitude for relatively low piezoceramic volume is generated. The class IV transducer offers the potential to attain even higher performance per volume than the class V. In this research, a miniaturized class IV power ultrasonic flextensional transducer is proposed. Simulations were performed using PZFlex finite element analysis, and electrical impedance analysis and experimental modal analysis were conducted for validation, where a high correlation between simulation and experiment has been demonstrated.

We analyzed the orientation of the sample of ACO galaxy clusters. We examined the alignment in a subsample of 1056 galaxy structures taken from the Panko-Flin (2006) Catalog with known BM morphological types. We were looking for a correlation between the orientation of the cluster and the positions of neighboring clusters. The Binggeli effect (the excess of small values of the Δθ angles between the direction toward neighboring clusters and the cluster position angle) is observed, having a range up to about 45 h-1 Mpc. The strongest effect was found for elongated BM type I clusters. This is probably connected with the origins of the supergiant galaxy and with cluster formation along a long filament or plane in a supercluster.

The observational data for the extragalactic research are evolved across this century. While the first studies on galaxies were essentially based on images and spectra taken in the optical waveband and registered after hours of work at the telescope on glass photographic plates, today we receive pre-reduced multiwavelength images and spectra directly on our computers. The work of astronomers is changed completely with the technological progress. Only 30 years ago, 4-5 photographic images of galaxies, or a few spectra, were the best one can hope to get after a night of hard work at the telescope. Today, space and ground-based telescopes with big diameters and field of view are pointed toward the sky every night, collecting gigabytes of data for thousand of galaxies, that we bring with us in our laptop computers.

High surface density, rapidly star-forming galaxies are observed to have ≈50–100 km s{sup −1} line of sight velocity dispersions, which are much higher than expected from supernova driving alone, but may arise from large-scale gravitational instabilities. Using three-dimensional simulations of local regions of the interstellar medium, we explore the impact of high velocity dispersions that arise from these disk instabilities. Parametrizing disks by their surface densities and epicyclic frequencies, we conduct a series of simulations that probe a broad range of conditions. Turbulence is driven purely horizontally and on large scales, neglecting any energy input from supernovae. We find that such motions lead to strong global outflows in the highly compact disks that were common at high redshifts, but weak or negligible mass loss in the more diffuse disks that are prevalent today. Substantial outflows are generated if the one-dimensional horizontal velocity dispersion exceeds ≈35 km s{sup −1}, as occurs in the dense disks that have star-formation rate (SFR) densities above ≈0.1 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} kpc{sup −2}. These outflows are triggered by a thermal runaway, arising from the inefficient cooling of hot material coupled with successive heating from turbulent driving. Thus, even in the absence of stellar feedback, a critical value of the SFR density for outflow generation can arise due to a turbulent heating instability. This suggests that in strongly self-gravitating disks, outflows may be enhanced by, but need not caused by, energy input from supernovae.

ABSTRACT. From a qualitative spectroscopic survey of southern galaxies made by Pastoriza, a group with different morphological types whose nuclear region showed particular strong emission [N II]A6548-6584 lines when compared to Hn, was selected in order to investigate why [N II] is so strong. This work presents the results of a first analysis of the spectra of some of the galaxies above obtained with the 1-m telescope plus 2DFRUTTI detector of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The spectra are all very similar showing strong stellar continuum and absorption lines, and all the emission spectra show [0111] >[OII], [NIl] > H . None of the spectra show H in emission. Using the relative intensities of the H and K Call lines (Talent 1982, PLtb. A.S.P., 94,36), the obtained integrated spectra for all the observed galaxies is later than GO, which means that the H absorption lines should not be strong. From the relative intensities of the emission lines, we conclude that these galaxies cannot be classified as Starburst or LINERS. They are similar to Seyfert 2 (Osterbrock 1986, Act#va QSO4, preprint), but the FWHM of the lines is less than 300 km s . Also Ol X6300 is not clearly seen, and the absorption spectrum is strong relative to the emission spectrum. The preliminary conclusion is an activity similar but milder than that present in Seyfert 2 galaxies, as sug gested by Rose and Searle (1982, Ap. 5., 253, 556) and Rose and Cecil (1983, Ap. 5., 266, 531) for the nucleus of M51, maybe affected by an anomalous nitrogen abundance. K o : GALAXIES-ACTIVE - SPECTROSCOPY

Using measurements of velocity dispersion and mass surface density for both the gas and stellar components, we calculate the multi-component stability (Q) for 30 galaxy disks observed by the DiskMass Survey. Despite their sub-maximality (Bershady et al. 2011, ApJL, 739, 47), we find all disks to be stable with roughly 85% falling in the range 1galaxy. We measure the shape of the SVE using methods developed by Westfall (2009, PhD Thesis) and Westfall et al. (2011, ApJ, 742, 18); these methods primarily hinge on asymmetric-drift measurements determined by our gas and stellar rotation curves. We find high-quality SVE measurements for a third of the galaxies in our sample. Practical (inclination) limitations and/or the requisite dynamical assumptions in these methods currently prevent satisfactory SVE solutions for the remainder of our sample; for these galaxies, we determine Q using reasonable SVE estimates based on our own high-quality results and others gathered from the literature (e.g., van der Kruit & de Grijs 1999, A&A, 352, 129; Gerssen & Shapiro Griffin 2012, MNRAS, 423, 2726). Finally, we explore correlations between disk stability and other galaxy properties such as star-formation rate, gas mass fraction, disk maximality, and Hubble type to understand their interdependencies within the context of the secular evolution of galaxy disks. We acknowledge support for this work from the National Science Foundation (AST-0307417, AST-0607516, OISE-0754437, AST-1009491), The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (grant 614.000.807), the UW Graduate School (PRJ13SL, 050167, and the Vilas Associate award), the Leids Kerkhoven-Bosscha Fonds, and NASA/JPL/Spitzer (GO-30894).

A small fraction of star-forming galaxies at redshift, 3, show He II at 1640 A as a narrow emission line (Cassata et al. 2012), but the source of this emission is not understood. Does the He II emission arise in the stars or in the surrounding nebula? To answer this question, we use I Zw 18, a well studied blue compact dwarf galaxy showing narrow He II line emission as a test case. We consider if/how He II narrow emission lines could originate in the nearby nebulosity, or in the winds of hot, massive stars, both those on the main sequence and post-MS evolutionary phases.

In 1993 we proposed a project to NASA having the goal of producing a new infrared map of our Galaxy. In particular, we proposed to reprocess the IRAS data taken in the early 1980's using modern image processing algorithms and the large Intel parallel computers of the Center for Advanced Computing Research, (at that time called the Caltech Concurrent Supercomputing Facilities - CCSF). The rationale was simple: what took approximately 100 days on a typical workstation would take less than a day on the multi-processor parallel computers, thus making a high-resolution infrared atlas of the Galaxy feasible.

he most distant galaxy cluster yet has been discovered by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical and infrared telescopes. The cluster is located about 10.2 billion light years away, and is observed as it was when the Universe was only about a quarter of its present age. The galaxy cluster, known as JKCS041, beats the previous record holder by about a billion light years. Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe. Finding such a large structure at this very early epoch can reveal important information about how the Universe evolved at this crucial stage. JKCS041 is found at the cusp of when scientists think galaxy clusters can exist in the early Universe based on how long it should take for them to assemble. Therefore, studying its characteristics - such as composition, mass, and temperature - will reveal more about how the Universe took shape. "This object is close to the distance limit expected for a galaxy cluster," said Stefano Andreon of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Milan, Italy. "We don't think gravity can work fast enough to make galaxy clusters much earlier." Distant galaxy clusters are often detected first with optical and infrared observations that reveal their component galaxies dominated by old, red stars. JKCS041 was originally detected in 2006 in a survey from the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). The distance to the cluster was then determined from optical and infrared observations from UKIRT, the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope in Hawaii and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared observations are important because the optical light from the galaxies at large distances is shifted into infrared wavelengths because of the expansion of the universe. The Chandra data were the final - but crucial - piece of evidence as they showed that JKCS041 was, indeed, a genuine galaxy cluster. The extended X-ray emission seen by Chandra shows that hot gas has been detected

Context: .The mass assembly is believed to be the dominant process of early galaxy formation. This mechanism of galaxy building can proceed either by repeated major mergers with other systems, or by means of accretion of matter from the surrounding regions. Aims: .In this paper we compare the properties of local disk galaxies that appear isolated, i.e., not tidally affected by other galaxies during the last few Gyr within the volume given by cz≤ 5000 km s-1, with those galaxies at z values from 0.25 to 5. Methods: .Effective radii for 203 isolated galaxies and 1645 galaxies from the RC3 have been collected and the two samples have been analyzed statistically. A similar comparison has been made with half light radii studied at high z from the literature. Results: .We found that isolated galaxies are, in general, smaller than other present epoch galaxies from the RC3. We notice the lack of systems larger than 7 kpc among them. Their size distribution appears to be similar to that of galaxies at 1.4 ≤ z ≤ 2. The models of the merging history also indicate that the isolated galaxies did stop their merging process at about that redshift, evolving passively since then. The galaxy density seems to have remained unchanged since that epoch Conclusions: .Isolated galaxies appear to be the end products of the merging process, as proposed by the hierarchical accretion scenario at around z=1.4. For this class of galaxies, this was the last significant merging event in their lives, and they have evolved passively since then. This is confirmed by the analytical estimate of the merging fraction with z and by the comparison with sizes of distant galaxies.

We have used the Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFA) to map three regions, each of 5 deg2, around the isolated galaxies NGC 1156, UGC 2082, and NGC 5523. In the vicinity of these galaxies we have detected two dwarf companions: one near UGC 2082, previously discovered by the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) survey, and one near NGC 1156, discovered by this project and reported in an earlier paper. This is significantly fewer than the 15.4^{+1.7}_{-1.5} that would be expected from the field H I mass function from ALFALFA or the 8.9 ± 1.2 expected if the H I mass function from the Local Group applied in these regions. The number of dwarf companions detected is, however, consistent with a flat or declining H I mass function as seen by a previous, shallower, H I search for companions to isolated galaxies. We attribute this difference in H I mass functions to the different environments in which they are measured. This agrees with the general observation that lower ratios of dwarf to giant galaxies are found in lower density environments.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured these infrared images of a nearby spiral galaxy that resembles our own Milky Way. The targeted galaxy, known as NGC 7331 and sometimes referred to as our galaxy's twin, is found in the constellation Pegasus at a distance of 50 million light-years. This inclined galaxy was discovered in 1784 by William Herschel, who also discovered infrared light.

The evolution of this galaxy is a story that depends significantly on the amount and distribution of gas and dust, the locations and rates of star formation, and on how the energy from star formation is recycled by the local environment. The new Spitzer images are allowing astronomers to 'read' this story by dissecting the galaxy into its separate components.

The image, measuring 12.6 by 8.2 arcminutes, was obtained by Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is a four-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (yellow) and 8.0 microns (red). These wavelengths are roughly 10 times longer than those seen by the human eye.

The infrared light seen in this image originates from two very different sources. At shorter wavelengths (3.6 to 4.5 microns), the light comes mainly from stars, particularly ones that are older and cooler than our Sun. This starlight fades at longer wavelengths (5.8 to 8.0 microns), where instead we see the glow from clouds of interstellar dust. This dust consists mainly of a variety of carbon-based organic molecules known collectively as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Wherever these compounds are found, there will also be dust granules and gas, which provide a reservoir of raw materials for future star formation.

One feature that stands out in the Spitzer image is the ring of actively forming stars that surrounds the galaxy center (yellow). This ring, with a radius of nearly 20,000 light-years, is invisible at shorter wavelengths, yet has been detected at

The structure, electron density, and dimensions of HII regions in galaxies are discussed. These parameters are correlated to the chemical composition gradient along the galactic radius, the dimensions of the three largest HII regions in the galaxy, and the amount of hydrogen in the galaxy, as well as the mass, dimensions, and total optical luminosity of the galaxy. The relationships of HII regions to star formation and galactic nucleus activity are discussed and the kinematic properties of the SB and Sab galaxies are related to the size of HII regions.

Galaxy clusters provide some of the most extreme environments in which galaxies evolve, making them excellent laboratories to study the age old question of "nature" vs. "nurture" in galaxy evolution. Here I review some of the key observational results obtained during the last decade on the evolution of the morphology, structure, dynamics, star-formation history and stellar populations of cluster galaxies since the time when the universe was half its present age. Many of the results presented here have been obtained within the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) and Space Telescope A901/02 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES) collaborations.

Supermassive black hole growth, nuclear activity, and galaxy evolution have been found to be closely related. In the context of AGN-galaxy coevolution, I will discuss about the relation found between the host galaxy properties and the central BH and I will present the latest determination of the host galaxy stellar mass function (HGMF), and the specific accretion rate distribution function (SARDF), derived from the XMM-COSMOS sample up to z˜2.5, with particular focus on AGN feedback as possible responsible mechanism for galaxy quenching.

Galaxy clusters provide some of the most extreme environments in which galaxies evolve, making them excellent laboratories to study the age old question of "nature" vs. "nurture" in galaxy evolution. Here I review some of the key observational results obtained during the last decade on the evolution of the morphology, structure, dynamics, star-formation history and stellar populations of cluster galaxies since the time when the Universe was half its present age. Many of the results presented here have been obtained within the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) and Space Telescope A901/02 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES) collaborations.

We present an unbiased λ=3 mm survey done with the IRAM 30 telescope towards the central parts of eight galaxies considered as archetypes of nearby starbursts, galaxies with an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). The spatial resolution range from ˜200 pc to ˜1.6 kpc, depending on the galaxy. We compare the abundances of thirty-seven species among the sample, and highlight the molecules that characterise the gas in each of them. These results can be very useful to prepare future interferometric observations of active galaxies.

Galaxies are born and grow within a cosmic ecosystem, in which they receive material from surrounding intergalactic gas via gravitationally-driven inflows and expel material via powerful galactic outflows. These processes, collectively referred to as the baryon cycle, are increasingly believed to govern galaxy growth over cosmic time. I discuss new insights on the baryon cycle using analytic models and hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy evolution, particularly emphasizing how galaxy outskirts are the prime locale within which to observe these processes in action by examining observational tracers such as rest-ultraviolet absorption lines and the neutral and molecular gas content of galaxies.

An Atlas-Centaur space vehicle lifted off at 5:53 p.m. EDT, June 13, 1972, from Complex 36B carrying an Intelsat Communications Satellite, (Intelsat IV-F5) into Earth orbit. Visible in the foreground is the lighthouse located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Book IV in a 5-book day camp manual discusses the camp program. Section I describes the organization, definition, and elements essential to successful day camp programs. Section II, which addresses the benefits and special considerations of mass programs, includes rainy day contingencies, materials to have on hand, and activity suggestions.…

The Y-12 Plant, K-25 Site, and ORNL are managed by DOE`s Operating Contractor (OC), Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. (Energy Systems) for DOE. Operation associated with the facilities by the Operating Contractor and subcontractors, DOE contractors and the DOE Federal Building result in the generation of industrial solid wastes as well as construction/demolition wastes. Due to the waste streams mentioned, the Y-12 Industrial Waste Landfill IV (IWLF-IV) was developed for the disposal of solid industrial waste in accordance to Rule 1200-1-7, Regulations Governing Solid Waste Processing and Disposal in Tennessee. This revised operating document is a part of a request for modification to the existing Y-12 IWLF-IV to comply with revised regulation (Rule Chapters 1200-1-7-.01 through 1200-1-7-.08) in order to provide future disposal space for the ORR, Subcontractors, and the DOE Federal Building. This revised operating manual also reflects approved modifications that have been made over the years since the original landfill permit approval. The drawings referred to in this manual are included in Drawings section of the package. IWLF-IV is a Tennessee Department of Environmental and Conservation/Division of Solid Waste Management (TDEC/DSWM) Class 11 disposal unit.

A simple way to find solutions of the Painlevé IV equation is by identifying Hamiltonian systems with third-order differential ladder operators. Some of these systems can be obtained by applying supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSY QM) to the harmonic oscillator. In this work, we will construct families of coherent states for such subset of SUSY partner Hamiltonians which are connected with the Painlevé IV equation. First, these coherent states are built up as eigenstates of the annihilation operator, then as displaced versions of the extremal states, both involving the related third-order ladder operators, and finally as extremal states which are also displaced but now using the so called linearized ladder operators. To each SUSY partner Hamiltonian corresponds two families of coherent states: one inside the infinite subspace associated with the isospectral part of the spectrum and another one in the finite subspace generated by the states created through the SUSY technique. - Highlights: • We use SUSY QM to obtain Hamiltonians with third-order differential ladder operators. • We show that these systems are related with the Painlevé IV equation. • We apply different definitions of coherent states to these Hamiltonians using the third-order ladder operators and some linearized ones. • We construct families of coherent states for such systems, which we called Painlevé IV coherent states.

The NCCR IV data shows an overall condition score of 3.0 for the nation’s coastal waters; although this score has improved substantially since 1990, the overall condition of the nation’s coastal resources continues to be rated fair.

Plutonium(IV) carbonate complexes are expected to be of particular importance in typical groundwaters at the Yucca Mountain site of the candidate nuclear waste repository being studied by the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations Project. The chemistry of these complexes is also important in the areas of nuclear fuel reprocessing and purification, actinide separations, and environmental studies. This report describes initial experiments performed to determine the identity and equilibrium quotients of plutonium(IV) carbonate complexes. These experiments were performed at pH values between 7.2 and 9.6 using a spectrophotometric method. In addition, a brief review of the published literature on Pu(IV) carbonate complexes is presented. Since Pu(IV) exhibits low solubility in the near-neutral pH range, a complex-competition reaction where citrate ligands compete with carbonate ions for the plutonium will be employed. This will permit us to study the pure carbonate system; study the mixed carbonate/citrate system, and confirm and extend the literature work on the pure citrate system. The current experiments have demonstrated the existence of at least three distinct species in the pH region studied. This work will continue in the extended study of the pure citrate system, followed by the investigation of the citrate/carbonate complex/competition reaction. 9 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.

In Part IV of this article, the author describes two periodontal infections, acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (trench mouth) and periodontal abscess, both acute painful conditions for which patients may seek advice from their family physician rather than their dentist. PMID:21253201

A spectacular new image of the Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) has been taken with the ESO VISTA telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile as part of one of its first major observational campaigns. By observing in infrared light VISTA's view is less affected by dust and reveals a myriad of cooler stars as well as a prominent bar of stars across the central region. The VISTA image provides much new information on the history and development of the galaxy. The Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) lies in the constellation of the same name and is one of the brightest galaxies in the sky. It is prominent enough to be seen with good binoculars and was discovered by Caroline Herschel from England in 1783. NGC 253 is a spiral galaxy that lies about 13 million light-years away. It is the brightest member of a small collection of galaxies called the Sculptor Group, one of the closest such groupings to our own Local Group of galaxies. Part of its visual prominence comes from its status as a starburst galaxy, one in the throes of rapid star formation. NGC 253 is also very dusty, which obscures the view of many parts of the galaxy (eso0902). Seen from Earth, the galaxy is almost edge on, with the spiral arms clearly visible in the outer parts, along with a bright core at its centre. VISTA, the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, the latest addition to ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Chilean Atacama Desert, is the world's largest survey telescope. After being handed over to ESO at the end of 2009 (eso0949) the telescope was used for two detailed studies of small sections of the sky before it embarked on the much larger surveys that are now in progress. One of these "mini surveys" was a detailed study of NGC 253 and its environment. As VISTA works at infrared wavelengths it can see right through most of the dust that is such a prominent feature of the Sculptor Galaxy when viewed in visible light. Huge numbers of cooler stars that are barely detectable with visible

A Gen IV Materials Handbook is being developed to provide an authoritative single source of highly qualified structural materials information and materials properties data for use in design and analyses of all Generation IV Reactor Systems. The Handbook will be responsive to the needs expressed by all of the principal government, national laboratory, and private company stakeholders of Gen IV Reactor Systems. The Gen IV Materials Handbook Implementation Plan provided here addresses the purpose, rationale, attributes, and benefits of the Handbook and will detail its content, format, quality assurance, applicability, and access. Structural materials, both metallic and ceramic, for all Gen IV reactor types currently supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) will be included in the Gen IV Materials Handbook. However, initial emphasis will be on materials for the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). Descriptive information (e.g., chemical composition and applicable technical specifications and codes) will be provided for each material along with an extensive presentation of mechanical and physical property data including consideration of temperature, irradiation, environment, etc. effects on properties. Access to the Gen IV Materials Handbook will be internet-based with appropriate levels of control. Information and data in the Handbook will be configured to allow search by material classes, specific materials, specific information or property class, specific property, data parameters, and individual data points identified with materials parameters, test conditions, and data source. Details on all of these as well as proposed applicability and consideration of data quality classes are provided in the Implementation Plan. Website development for the Handbook is divided into six phases including (1) detailed product analysis and specification, (2) simulation and design, (3) implementation and testing, (4) product release, (5) project/product evaluation, and (6) product

A new technique using near-infrared images, obtained with ESO's 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT), allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes of the giant cannibal galaxy Centaurus A, unveiling its "last meal" in unprecedented detail - a smaller spiral galaxy, currently twisted and warped. This amazing image also shows thousands of star clusters, strewn like glittering gems, churning inside Centaurus A. Centaurus A (NGC 5128) is the nearest giant, elliptical galaxy, at a distance of about 11 million light-years. One of the most studied objects in the southern sky, by 1847 the unique appearance of this galaxy had already caught the attention of the famous British astronomer John Herschel, who catalogued the southern skies and made a comprehensive list of nebulae. Herschel could not know, however, that this beautiful and spectacular appearance is due to an opaque dust lane that covers the central part of the galaxy. This dust is thought to be the remains of a cosmic merger between a giant elliptical galaxy and a smaller spiral galaxy full of dust. Between 200 and 700 million years ago, this galaxy is indeed believed to have consumed a smaller spiral, gas-rich galaxy - the contents of which appear to be churning inside Centaurus A's core, likely triggering new generations of stars. First glimpses of the "leftovers" of this meal were obtained thanks to observations with the ESA Infrared Space Observatory , which revealed a 16 500 light-year-wide structure, very similar to that of a small barred galaxy. More recently, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope resolved this structure into a parallelogram, which can be explained as the remnant of a gas-rich spiral galaxy falling into an elliptical galaxy and becoming twisted and warped in the process. Galaxy merging is the most common mechanism to explain the formation of such giant elliptical galaxies. The new SOFI images, obtained with the 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory

We present a recalibration of the luminosity-metallicity relation for gas-rich, star-forming dwarfs to magnitudes as faint as M{sub R} ∼ –13. We use the Dopita et al. metallicity calibrations to calibrate the relation for all the data in this analysis. In metallicity-luminosity space, we find two subpopulations within a sample of high-confidence Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR8 star-forming galaxies: 52% are metal-rich giants and 48% are metal-medium galaxies. Metal-rich dwarfs classified as tidal dwarf galaxy (TDG) candidates in the literature are typically of metallicity 12 + log(O/H) = 8.70 ± 0.05, while SDSS dwarfs fainter than M{sub R} = –16 have a mean metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.28 ± 0.10, regardless of their luminosity, indicating that there is an approximate floor to the metallicity of low-luminosity galaxies. Our hydrodynamical simulations predict that TDGs should have metallicities elevated above the normal luminosity-metallicity relation. Metallicity can therefore be a useful diagnostic for identifying TDG candidate populations in the absence of tidal tails. At magnitudes brighter than M{sub R} ∼ –16, our sample of 53 star-forming galaxies in 9 H I gas-rich groups is consistent with the normal relation defined by the SDSS sample. At fainter magnitudes, there is an increase in dispersion of the metallicity of our sample, suggestive of a wide range of H I content and environment. In our sample, we identify three (16% of dwarfs) strong TDG candidates (12 + log(O/H) > 8.6) and four (21%) very metal-poor dwarfs (12 + log(O/H) < 8.0), which are likely gas-rich dwarfs with recently ignited star formation.

We examine the clustering of galaxies around a sample of 20 luminous low redshift (z approx. less than 0.30) quasars observed with the Wide Field Camera-2 on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The HST resolution makes possible galaxy identification brighter than V = 24.5 and as close as 1 min or 2 min to the quasar. We find a significant enhancement of galaxies within a projected separation of approx. less than 100 1/h kpc of the quasars. If we model the QSO/galaxy correlation function as a power law with a slope given by the galaxy/galaxy correlation function, we find that the ratio of the QSO/galaxy to galaxy/galaxy correlation functions is 3.8 +/- 0.8. The galaxy counts within r less than 15 1/h kpc of the quasars are too high for the density profile to have an appreciable core radius (approx. greater than 100 1/h kpc). Our results reinforce the idea that low redshift quasars are located preferentially in groups of 10-20 galaxies rather than in rich clusters. We see no significant difference in the clustering amplitudes derived from radio-loud and radio-quiet subsamples.

We investigate the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies in a high-resolution, hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of a Milky Way sized halo and its environment. Our simulation includes gas cooling, star formation, supernova feedback, metal enrichment and ultraviolet heating. In total, 90 satellites and more than 400 isolated dwarf galaxies are formed in the simulation, allowing a systematic study of the internal and environmental processes that determine their evolution. We find that 95 per cent of satellite galaxies are gas free at z= 0, and identify three mechanisms for gas loss: supernova feedback, tidal stripping and photoevaporation due to re-ionization. Gas-rich satellite galaxies are only found with total masses above ˜5 × 109 M⊙. In contrast, for isolated dwarf galaxies, a total mass of ˜109 M⊙ constitutes a sharp transition; less massive galaxies are predominantly gas free at z= 0, more massive, isolated dwarf galaxies are often able to retain their gas. In general, we find that the total mass of a dwarf galaxy is the main factor which determines its star formation, metal enrichment and its gas content, but that stripping may explain the observed difference in gas content between field dwarf galaxies and satellites with total masses close to 109 M⊙. We also find that a morphological transformation via tidal stripping of infalling, luminous dwarf galaxies whose dark matter is less concentrated than their stars cannot explain the high total mass-to-light ratios of the faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

The Kiso sample of several thousand local ultraviolet-bright galaxies includes galaxies classified as irregular disk galaxies with large star-forming complexes (I,g). We selected a sample of all I,g galaxies with both Sloan Digital Sky Survey images and spectra. They contain up to several dozen giant clumps each, so we refer to them as measle galaxies. We determined ages and masses of the clumps based on a comparison of photometry with population synthesis models of cluster evolution. The spectra were used to determine global star formation rates. Several hundred clumps were measured in the sample, with masses ranging from 10^5 to several x10^8 solar masses, scaling with galaxy absolute g magnitude of -14 to -21 mag. The galaxies are starbursting, sitting above the Groth strip “main sequence” of star formation rate versus galaxy mass by an order of magnitude. These Kiso measle galaxies have 10x the star formation rates of the Kiso tadpole galaxies. We compare their clump luminosity distribution functions with normal disk galaxies.

Optical surveys for galaxies are biased against the inclusion of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. Disney [Nature, 263,573(1976)] suggested that the constancy of disk central surface brightness noticed by Freeman [ApJ, 160,811(1970)] was not a physical result, but instead was an artifact of sample selection. Since LSB galaxies do exist, the pertinent and still controversial issue is if these newly discovered galaxies constitute a significant percentage of the general galaxy population. In this paper, we address this issue by determining the space density of galaxies as a function of disk central surface brightness. Using the physically reasonable assumption (which is motivated by the data) that central surface brightness is independent of disk scale length, we arrive at a distribution which is roughly flat (i.e., approximately equal numbers of galaxies at each surface brightness) faintwards of the Freeman (1970) value. Brightwards of this, we find a sharp decline in the distribution which is analogous to the turn down in the luminosity function at L^*^. An intrinsically sharply peaked "Freeman law" distribution can be completely ruled out, and no Gaussian distribution can fit the data. Low surface brightness galaxies (those with central surface brightness fainter than 22 B mag arcsec^-2^) comprise >~ 1/2 the general galaxy population, so a representative sample of galaxies at z = 0 does not really exist at present since past surveys have been insensitive to this component of the general galaxy population.

We studied the ellipticity distributions of elliptical galaxies in different environments. From the ninth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we selected galaxies with absolute {r}\\prime -band magnitudes between -21 and -22. We used the volume number densities of galaxies as the criterion for selecting the environments of the galaxies. Our samples were divided into three groups with different volume number densities. The ellipticity distributions of the elliptical galaxies differed considerably in these three groups of different density regions. We deprojected the observed 2D ellipticity distributions into intrinsic 3D shape distributions, and the result showed that the shapes of the elliptical galaxies were relatively spherically symmetric in the high density region (HDR) and that relatively more flat galaxies were present in the low density region (LDR). This suggests that the ellipticals in the HDRs and LDRs have different origins or that different mechanisms might be involved. The elliptical galaxies in the LDR are likely to have evolved from mergers in relatively anisotropic structures, such as filaments and webs, and might contain information on the anisotropic spatial distribution of their parent mergers. By contrast, elliptical galaxies in the HDR might be formed in more isotropic structures, such as galaxy clusters, or they might encounter more torqueing effects compared with galaxies in LDRs, thereby becoming rounder.

We address the general problem of the luminosity-specific planetary nebula (PN) number, better known as the `α' ratio, given by α=NPN/Lgal, and its relationship with the age and metallicity of the parent stellar population. Our analysis relies on population synthesis models that account for simple stellar populations (SSPs), and more elaborate galaxy models covering the full star formation range of the different Hubble morphological types. This theoretical framework is compared with the updated census of the PN population in Local Group (LG) galaxies and external ellipticals in the Leo group, and the Virgo and Fornax clusters. The main conclusions of our study can be summarized as follows. (i) According to the post-asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stellar core mass, PN lifetime in a SSP is constrained by three relevant regimes, driven by the nuclear (Mcore>~ 0.57Msolar), dynamical (0.57Msolar>~Mcore>~ 0.55Msolar) and transition (0.55Msolar>~Mcore>~ 0.52Msolar) time-scales. The lower limit for Mcore also sets the minimum mass for stars to reach the AGB thermal-pulsing phase and experience the PN event. (ii) Mass loss is the crucial mechanism to constrain the value of α, through the definition of the initial-to-final mass relation (IFMR). The Reimers mass-loss parametrization, calibrated on Pop II stars of Galactic globular clusters, poorly reproduces the observed value of α in late-type galaxies, while a better fit is obtained using the empirical IFMR derived from white dwarf observations in the Galaxy open clusters. (iii) The inferred PN lifetime for LG spirals and irregulars exceeds 10000yr, which suggests that Mcoreiv) The relative PN deficiency in elliptical galaxies, and the observed trend of α with galaxy optical colours, support the presence of a prevailing fraction of low-mass cores (Mcore

I will present results from Galaxy Zoo classification of galaxies observed in public observed frame optical HST surveys (e.g. COSMOS, GOODS) as well as in observed frame NIR with (ie. CANDELS). Early science results from these classifications have investigated the changing bar fraction in disc galaxies as a function of redshift (to z~1 in Melvin et al. 2014; and at z>1 in Simmons et al. 2015), as well as how the morphologies of galaxies on the red sequence have been changing since z~1 (Melvin et al. in prep.). These unique dataset of quantitative visual classifications for high redshift galaxies will be made public in forthcoming publications (planned as Willett et al. for Galaxy Zoo Hubble, and Simmons et al. for Galaxy Zoo CANDELS).

We determined the warp parameters of 192 warped galaxies which are selected from 340 edge-on galaxies using color images as well as r-band isophotal maps. We derive the local background density (Σ_{n}) to examine the dependence of the warp amplitudes on the galaxy environment. We find a clear trend that strongly warped galaxies are likely to be found in high density regions where tidal interactions are supposed to be frequent. However, the correlation between α_{w} and Σ_{n} is too weak for weakly warped galaxies (α_{w} < 4°) and the cumulative distributions of weakly warped galaxies are not significantly different from those of galaxies with no detectable warps. This suggests that tidal interactions do not play a decisive role in the formation of weak warps.}

Understanding how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and galaxies coevolve within their host dark matter (DM) halos is a fundamental issue in astrophysics. This thesis is aimed to shed light on this topic. As a first step, we employ the recent wide samples of far-infrared (FIR) selected galaxies followed-up in X-rays, and of X-ray/optically selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) followed-up in the FIR band, along with the classic data on AGN and stellar luminosity functions at redshift z & 1.5, to probe different stages in the coevolution of SMBHs and their host galaxies. The results of this analysis indicate the following scenario: (i) the star formation in the host galaxy proceeds within a heavily dust-enshrouded medium, at an almost constant rate, over a timescale . 0.5 - 1 Gyr, and then abruptly declines due to quasar feedback; (ii) part of the interstellar medium loses angular momentum, reaches the circum-nuclear regions, at a rate proportional to the star formation, and is temporarily stored into a massive reservoir/proto-torus, wherefrom it can be promptly accreted; (iii) the black hole (BH) grows by accretion in a self-regulated regime with radiative power that can slightly exceed the Eddington limit (L/LEdd . 4), particularly at the highest redshifts; (iv) the ensuing energy feedback from massive BHs, at its maximum, exceeds the stellar one and removes the interstellar gas, thus stopping the star formation and the fueling of the reservoir; (v) afterwards, if the gas stored in the reservoir is enough, a phase of supply-limited accretion follows, whose rate exponentially declines with a timescale of ∼3 e-folding times. We also discuss how the detailed properties and the specific evolution of the reservoir can be investigated via coordinated, high-resolution observations of starforming, strongly lensed galaxies in the (sub-)mm band with ALMA, and in the X-ray band with Chandra and the next generation of X-ray instruments. According to the scenario described

Absorption lines from galaxies at intervening redshifts in quasar spectra are sensitive probes of metals and gas that are otherwise invisible due to distance or low surface brightness. However, in order to determine the environments these absorption lines arise in, we must detect these galaxies in emission as well. Galaxies on top of quasars (GOTOQs) are low-z galaxies found intervening with background quasars in the SDSS. These galaxies have been flagged for their narrow galactic emission lines present in quasar spectra in the SDSS. Typically, the low-z nature of these galaxies allows them to be easily detected in SDSS imaging. However, a number of GOTOQs (about 10%), despite being detected in spectral emission, are NOT seen in SDSS imaging. This implies that these may be dark galaxies, dwarf galaxies, or similarly low surface brightness galaxies. Additionally, about 25% of those detected in imaging are dwarf galaxies according to their L* values. Dwarf galaxies have long been underrepresented in observations compared to theory and are known to have large extents in dark matter. Given their prevalence here in our sample we must ask what role they play in quasar absorption line systems (QSOALS). Recent detections of 21-cm galaxies with few stars imply that aborted star formation in dark matter sub halos may produce QSOALS. Thus, this sub sample of galaxies offers a unique technique for probing dark and dwarf galaxies. The sample and its properties will be discussed, including star formation rates and dust estimates, as well as prospects for the future.

We search for signatures of reionization in the star formation histories (SFHs) of 38 Local Group dwarf galaxies (10{sup 4} < M{sub *} < 10{sup 9} M{sub ☉}). The SFHs are derived from color-magnitude diagrams using archival Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 imaging. Only five quenched galaxies (And V, And VI, And XIII, Leo IV, and Hercules) are consistent with forming the bulk of their stars before reionization, when full uncertainties are considered. Observations of 13 of the predicted 'true fossils' identified by Bovill and Ricotti show that only two (Hercules and Leo IV) indicate star formation quenched by reionization. However, both are within the virial radius of the Milky Way and evidence of tidal disturbance complicates this interpretation. We argue that the late-time gas capture scenario posited by Ricotti for the low mass, gas-rich, and star-forming fossil candidate Leo T is observationally indistinguishable from simple gas retention. Given the ambiguity between environmental effects and reionization, the best reionization fossil candidates are quenched low mass field galaxies (e.g., KKR 25).

Galaxies congregate in clusters and along filaments, and are missing from large regions referred to as voids. These structures are seen in maps derived from spectroscopic surveys that reveal networks of structure that are interconnected with no clear boundaries. Extended regions with a high concentration of galaxies are called 'superclusters', although this term is not precise. There is, however, another way to analyse the structure. If the distance to each galaxy from Earth is directly measured, then the peculiar velocity can be derived from the subtraction of the mean cosmic expansion, the product of distance times the Hubble constant, from observed velocity. The peculiar velocity is the line-of-sight departure from the cosmic expansion and arises from gravitational perturbations; a map of peculiar velocities can be translated into a map of the distribution of matter. Here we report a map of structure made using a catalogue of peculiar velocities. We find locations where peculiar velocity flows diverge, as water does at watershed divides, and we trace the surface of divergent points that surrounds us. Within the volume enclosed by this surface, the motions of galaxies are inward after removal of the mean cosmic expansion and long range flows. We define a supercluster to be the volume within such a surface, and so we are defining the extent of our home supercluster, which we call Laniakea.

The current IAU Symposium is closely connected to the EU-funded network DAGAL (Detailed Anatomy of Galaxies), with the final annual network meeting of DAGAL being at the core of this international symposium. In this short paper, we give an overview of DAGAL, its training activities, and some of the scientific advances that have been made under its umbrella.

Galaxy mergers are expected to play a central role for the evolution of galaxies and may have a strong effect on their magnetic fields. We present the first grid-based 3D magnetohydrodynamical simulations investigating the evolution of magnetic fields during merger events. For this purpose, we employed a simplified model considering the merger event of magnetized gaseous disks in the absence of stellar feedback and without a stellar or dark matter component. We show that our model naturally leads to the production of two peaks in the evolution of the average magnetic field strength within 5 kpc, within 25 kpc, and on scales in between 5 and 25 kpc. The latter is consistent with the peak in the magnetic field strength previously reported in a merger sequence of observed galaxies. We show that the peak on the galactic scale and in the outer regions is most likely due to geometrical effects, as the core of one galaxy enters the outskirts of the other one. In addition, the magnetic field within the central ~5 kpc is physically enhanced, which reflects the enhancement in density that is due to efficient angular momentum transport. We conclude that high-resolution observations of the central regions will be particularly relevant for probing the evolution of magnetic field structures during merger events.

We present revised positions for the 1051 galaxies belonging to the Karachentseva Catalog of Isolated Galaxies (CIG). New positions were calculated by applying SExtractor to the Digitized Sky Survey CIG fields with a spatial resolution of 1 arcsper 2. We visually checked the results and for 118 galaxies had to recompute the assigned positions due to complex morphologies (e.g. distorted isophotes, undefined nuclei, knotty galaxies) or the presence of bright stars. We found differences between older and newer positions of up to 38 arcsec with a mean value of 2 arcsper 96 relative to SIMBAD and up to 38 arcsec and 2 arcsper 42 respectively relative to UZC. Based on star positions from the APM catalog we determined that the DSS astrometry of five CIG fields has a mean offset in (alpha , delta ) of (-0 arcsper 90, 0 arcsper 93) with a dispersion of 0 arcsper 4. These results have been confirmed using the 2MASS All-Sky Catalog of Point Sources. The intrinsic errors of our method combined with the astrometric ones are of the order of 0 arcsper 5. Full Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/411/391

I review the origin of UV-radiation in galaxies of different morphological types. UV-excess in spectra of massive elliptical galaxies which have predominantly old stellar populations is traditionally explained by the contribution of low-mass stars at very late, poorly known stages of evolution—by so called `AGB-manqué' stars or by the population of extended horizontal branch. However recent results from the GALEX survey of a large sample of nearby ellipticals have also demonstrated probable traces of recent star formation in a third of all ellipticals observed. In spiral galaxies extended UV-disks have been discovered by the GALEX; they are certainly illuminated by the current star formation, but what has provoked star formation in the areas of very low gas density, beyond the distribution of older stars, is a puzzle yet. The UV-spectra of starburst galaxies or starforming galactic nuclei are characterized by weak emission lines, if any, quite dissimilar to their optical spectra.

Galaxies congregate in clusters and along filaments, and are missing from large regions referred to as voids. These structures are seen in maps derived from spectroscopic surveys that reveal networks of structure that are interconnected with no clear boundaries. Extended regions with a high concentration of galaxies are called `superclusters', although this term is not precise. There is, however, another way to analyse the structure. If the distance to each galaxy from Earth is directly measured, then the peculiar velocity can be derived from the subtraction of the mean cosmic expansion, the product of distance times the Hubble constant, from observed velocity. The peculiar velocity is the line-of-sight departure from the cosmic expansion and arises from gravitational perturbations; a map of peculiar velocities can be translated into a map of the distribution of matter. Here we report a map of structure made using a catalogue of peculiar velocities. We find locations where peculiar velocity flows diverge, as water does at watershed divides, and we trace the surface of divergent points that surrounds us. Within the volume enclosed by this surface, the motions of galaxies are inward after removal of the mean cosmic expansion and long range flows. We define a supercluster to be the volume within such a surface, and so we are defining the extent of our home supercluster, which we call Laniakea.

We present measurements of baryonic mass {M}{{b}} and specific angular momentum (sAM) {j}{{b}} in 14 rotating dwarf Irregular (dIrr) galaxies from the LITTLE THINGS sample. These measurements, based on 21 cm kinematic data from the Very Large Array and stellar mass maps from the Spitzer Space Telescope, extend previous AM measurements by more than two orders of magnitude in {M}{{b}}. The dwarf galaxies show systematically higher {j}{{b}} values than expected from the {j}{{b}}\\propto {M}{{b}}2/3 scaling of spiral galaxies, representative of a scale-free galaxy formation scenario. This offset can be explained by decreasing baryon mass fractions {f}{{M}}={M}{{b}}/{M}{dyn} (where {M}{dyn} is the dynamical mass) with decreasing {M}{{b}} (for {M}{{b}}< {10}11 {M}ȯ ). We find that the sAM of neutral atomic hydrogen (H i) alone is about 2.5 times higher than that of the stars. The M–j relation of H i is significantly steeper than that of the stars, as a direct consequence of the systematic variation of the H i fraction with {M}{{b}}.

One of the interesting issues in our understanding of active galactic nuclei is the duration of their active phase and whether such activity is episodic. In this paper we summarize our recent results on episodic activity in radio galaxies obtained with the GMRT and the VLA.

We present a revised and expanded catalog of satellite galaxies of a set of isolated spiral galaxies similar in luminosity to the Milky Way. This sample of 115 satellites, 69 of which were discovered in our multifiber redshift survey, is used to probe the results obtained from the original sample further (Zaritsky et al.). The satellites are, by definition, at projected separations galaxy. A key characteristic of this survey is the strict isolation of these systems, which simplifies any dynamical analysis. We find no evidence for a decrease in the velocity dispersion of the satellite system as a function of radius out to galactocentric radii of 400 kpc, which suggests that the halo extends well beyond 200 kpc. Furthermore, the new sample affirms our previous conclusions (Zaritsky et al.) that (1) the velocity difference between a satellite and its primary is not strongly correlated with the rotation speed of the primary, (2) the system of satellites has a slight net rotation (34 +/- 14 km s-1) in the same sense as the primary's disk, and (3) that the halo mass of an ~L* spiral galaxy is in excess of 2 × 1012 M⊙. Lick Observatory Bulletin B1346.

High redshift galaxies larger than 10 pixels were observed with the HST ACS in the Ultra Deep Field and Tadpole galaxy field in order to determine their morphological classes and photometric properties. Over 1300 galaxies were studied; most are at redshifts 1 to 3, although several dozen Lyman Break Galaxies were observed at redshifts 4 and 5. Galaxy types include chains, clump-clusters, doubles, tadpoles, spirals, and ellipticals. Ordinary spiral and elliptical galaxies are rare in the early universe; clumpy galaxies dominate at fainter than magnitude 25. Face-on spirals are scarce at high z because of surface brightness selection effects. Chain galaxies and clump-cluster galaxies appear to be a single galaxy type viewed at different orientations; they have no bulges or exponential profiles. Spiral galaxies at high z have exponential profiles with scale lengths that average half that of local galaxies, implying that disks must grow from the inside out with time. Star-forming clusters in both clump-clusters and spirals have exponential radial distributions, suggesting that the clumps in clump-clusters will eventually disperse to form exponential disks. There is a nearly uniform fraction of barred galaxies with z, suggesting that bar dissolution is not a prominent occurrence. The appearance of blue clumpy bars suggests that bar formation sometimes occurs from gas-phase disk instabilities rather than stellar instabilities. Thirty percent of elliptical galaxies at high z contain blue clumps. The prominent star-forming clumps in clump clusters and ellipticals were compared with stellar evolution models to determine ages and masses; these regions are unlike star-forming regions in the local universe. They have ages less than 1 Gyr and contain one billion solar masses. They resemble isolated clumps in the UDF, suggesting accretion in a hierarchical build-up model.

We present a high spatial resolution CCD surface photometry study in the optical V, R and I broad-band filters of a sample of 15 H II galaxies. Narrow-band imaging allows the separation of the emission-line region from the extended parts of the galaxy. The latter are assumed to represent the underlying galaxy in H II galaxies; thus the colours of the underlying galaxy are measured. The colours of the underlying stellar continuum within the starburst are also derived by subtracting the contribution of the emission lines falling in the broad-band filters. The distribution of colours of the underlying galaxy in H II galaxies is similar to the colours of other late-type low surface brightness galaxies, which suggests a close kinship of these with the quiescent phases of H II galaxies. However, comparison wtih recent evolutionary population synthesis models shows that the observational errors and the uncertainties in the models are still too large to put strict constraints on their past star formation history. Our analysis of the morphology and structural properties, from contour maps and luminosity profiles, of this sample of 15 H II galaxies agrees with what has been found by Telles and Telles, Melnick & Terlevich, namely that H II galaxies comprise two broad classes segregated by their luminosity; Type I H II galaxies are luminous and have disturbed and irregular outer shapes, while Type II H II galaxies are less luminous and have regular shapes. The outer parts of their profiles are well represented by an exponential, as in other types of known dwarf galaxy.

Detailed images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have sparked a surge of interest in morphological peculiarities in both distant and local galaxies. Several groups have developed criteria by which to classify peculiarities in galaxy morphology (e.g., Abraham et al. 1996, Naim et al. 1997). In order to study peculiar galaxies at high redshifts, it is crucial to have a solid understanding of both the morphological peculiarities in local galaxies and the appearance of local galaxies if they were observed at higher redshifts. We are developing several algorithms to quantify the types and degree of peculiarity seen in galaxy morphology. These algorithms, or peculiarity indices, are sensitive to several different types of features. The indices are applied initially to two samples: (1) a local galaxy sample, comprised of a subset of the Frei, et al. 1996 ``Catalog of Nearby Galaxies,'' along with several merger candidates from Hibbard & van Gorkom 1996 and from a run on the Lick Observatory Nickel 40-inch telescope by one of the authors (KLW); and (2) a sample of simulated z ~ 0.8 galaxies. The images of the local galaxies are resampled, and noise is added, to reflect the sampling and noise levels found in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). The galaxy sizes and surface brightnesses are cosmologically shifted to simulate observations of these galaxies through the HST F814W ( ~ I) filter at z ~ 0.8. This study expands upon previous work by providing a realistic view of which local morphological features we can expect to measure robustly when observed at high redshifts with the current observational technology. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of our peculiarity indices in differentiating between ``normal'' (i.e., Hubble Sequence type) galaxies and ``peculiar'' galaxies at these two epochs.

The magnetic field structure in edge-on galaxies observed so far shows a plane-parallel magnetic field component in the disk of the galaxy and an X-shaped field in its halo. The plane-parallel field is thought to be the projected axisymmetric (ASS) disk field as observed in face-on galaxies. Some galaxies addionionally exhibit strong vertical magnetic fields in the halo right above and below the central region of the disk. The mean-field dynamo theory in the disk cannot explain these observed fields without the action of a wind, which also probably plays an important role to keep the vertical scale heights constant in galaxies of different Hubble types and star formation activities, as has been observed in the radio continuum: At λ6 cm the vertical scale heights of the thin disk and the thick disk/halo in a sample of five edge-on galaxies are similar with a mean value of 300 +/- 50 pc for the thin disk and 1.8 +/- 0.2 kpc for the thick disk (a table and references are given in Krause 2011) with our sample including the brightest halo observed so far, NGC 253, with strong star formation, as well as one of the weakest halos, NGC 4565, with weak star formation. If synchrotron emission is the dominant loss process of the relativistic electrons the outer shape of the radio emission should be dumbbell-like as has been observed in several edge-on galaxies like e.g. NGC 253 (Heesen et al. 2009) and NGC 4565. As the synchrotron lifetime t syn at a single frequency is proportional to the total magnetic field strength B t -1.5, a cosmic ray bulk speed (velocity of a galactic wind) can be defined as v CR = h CR /t syn = 2 h z /t syn , where h CR and h z are the scale heights of the cosmic rays and the observed radio emission at this freqnency. Similar observed radio scale heights imply a self regulation mechanism between the galactic wind velocity, the total magnetic field strength and the star formation rate SFR in the disk: v CR ~ B t 1.5 ~ SFR ~ 0.5 (Niklas & Beck 1997).

We investigate the process of galaxy formation as can be observed in the only currently forming galaxies - the so-called Tidal Dwarf Galaxies, hereafter TDGs - through observations of the molecular gas detected via its CO (Carbon Monoxide) emission. These objects are formed of material torn off of the outer parts of a spiral disk due to tidal forces in a collision between two massive galaxies. Molecular gas is a key element in the galaxy formation process, providing the link between a cloud of gas and a bona fide galaxy. We have detected CO in 8 TDGs (Braine, Lisenfeld, Duc and Leon, 2000: Nature 403, 867; Braine, Duc, Lisenfeld, Charmandaris, Vallejo, Leon and Brinks: 2001, A&A 378, 51), with an overall detection rate of 80%, showing that molecular gas is abundant in TDGs, up to a few 108 M ⊙. The CO emission coincides both spatially and kinematically with the HI emission, indicating that the molecular gas forms from the atomic hydrogen where the HI column density is high. A possible trend of more evolved TDGs having greater molecular gas masses is observed, in accord with the transformation of HI into H2. Although TDGs share many of the properties of small irregulars, their CO luminosity is much greater (factor ˜ 100) than that of standard dwarf galaxies of comparable luminosity. This is most likely a consequence of the higher metallicity (≳sim 1/3 solar) of TDGs which makes CO a good tracer of molecular gas. This allows us to study star formation in environments ordinarily inaccessible due to the extreme difficulty of measuring the molecular gas mass. The star formation efficiency, measured by the CO luminosity per Hα flux, is the same in TDGs and full-sized spirals. CO is likely the best tracer of the dynamics of these objects because some fraction of the HI near the TDGs may be part of the tidal tail and not bound to the TDG. Although uncertainties are large for individual objects, as the geometry is unknown, our sample is now of eight detected objects

So far the masses of about 50 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have been measured through the reverberation mapping technique (RM). Most measurements have been performed for objects of moderate luminosity and redshift, based on Hβ, which is also used to calibrate the scaling relation that allows single-epoch (SE) mass determination based on AGN luminosity and the width of different emission lines. Due to the complex structure and gas dynamics of the relevant emission region, the SE masses obtained from the C IV(1549 Å) line show a large spread around the mean values. Direct RM measures of C IV exist for only six AGNs of low luminosity and redshift, and only one luminous quasar. Since 2003, we have collected photometric and spectroscopic observations of PG1247+267, the most luminous quasar ever analyzed for RM. We provide light curves for the continuum and for C IV(1549 Å) and C III](1909 Å), and measures of the reverberation time lags based on the SPEAR method. The sizes of the line emission regions assume a ratio of R {sub C} {sub III]}/R {sub C} {sub IV} ∼ 2, similar to the case of Seyfert galaxies, indicating for the first time a similar ionization stratification in a luminous quasar and low-luminosity nuclei. Due to the relatively small size of the broad line region and the relatively narrow line widths, we estimate a small mass and an anomalously high Eddington ratio. We discuss the possibility that either the shape of the emission region or an amplification of the luminosity caused by gravitational lensing may be partly responsible for the result.

The COSMOS (Cosmic Evolution Survey) project will be the largest HST imaging survey ever, covering two square degrees with the ACS instrument. The survey is designed to sample the full range of cosmic structures up to scales of 100 Mpc, map the evolution of galaxy morphology, galaxy merging, and star formation out to z of 2, use weak lensing to reconstruct the dark matter distribution out to z of 1, and study the joint evolution of galaxies and black holes via the AGN population. Extensive multi-wavelength observations of the field have also been committed for X-ray, UV, FIR, NIR, millimeter, and radio wavelengths. We present results from a pilot project using only the central 10.4 by 10.4 arcmin portion of the field. The goal is to understand the reliability of galaxy morphological information derived from GALFIT and other methods. Morphology has been derived from both g and i ACS images in terms of bulge/disk ratio and Sersic index. These measures have been augmented by CAS and Gini coefficients as a way of identifying galaxies that are disturbed or interacting, or where the axisymmetric assumptions of GALFIT are not warranted. We present results on how morphology correlates with global quantities such as luminosity, scale length, and mean surface brightness as well as with various broad band color combinations, which serve as proxies for overall stellar populations and ages. Using photo-z's we study all these relationships in terms of cosmic evolution. This pilot project will be used to optimize analysis strategies for the much larger amount of data in the overall COSMOS project. Funding for this work was provided by a NSF Graduate Fellowship and a NASA/HST GO Grant.

Young galaxies viewed at high redshift have high turbulent velocities, high star formation rates, high gas fractions, and chaotic structures, suggesting wild instabilities during which giant gas clumps form and make stars in their dense regions, stir other disk stars and gas, and transport angular momentum outward with a resulting net mass flow inward (e.g., Ceverino et al. 2010). At z=1.5, 40% of star-forming galaxies have significant clumps (Elmegreen et al. 2007; Wuyts et al. 2012), and in these, 10%-20% of the stellar mass is in clumps that last ~150 Myr (Elmegreen et al. 2009; Wuyts et al. 2012). The thick disk and bulge in modern galaxies could form in this phase. The similarity in the α/Fe ratio (Meléndez et al. 2008), K-giant abundances (Bensby et al. 2010) and ages for the Milky Way bulge and thick disk suggest they formed at the same time. High dispersion gas at z ~ 1.5 can do this because it makes the young disk thick and the SF clumps big enough to drive fast secular evolution (Elmegreen et al. 2006; Genzel et al. 2008; Bournaud et al. 2009). Local analogues might be present in dynamically young galaxies like BCDs (Elmegreen et al. 2012). The high fraction of z ~ 1.5 galaxies with massive clumps suggests clump formation is a long-lived phase and that clump torques should last ~ 1 Gyr or more even if individual clumps come and go on shorter timescales. Clump formation may cease when stars finally dominate the disk mass (Cacciato et al. 2012).

We show how the interplay between active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and merger history determines whether a galaxy quenches star formation (SF) at high redshift. We first simulate, in a full cosmological context, a galaxy of total dynamical mass Mvir = 1012 M⊙ at z = 2. Then we systematically alter the accretion history of the galaxy by minimally changing the linear overdensity in the initial conditions. This `genetic modification' approach allows the generation of three sets of Λ CDM initial conditions leading to maximum merger ratios of 1:10, 1:5 and 2:3, respectively. The changes leave the final halo mass, large-scale structure and local environment unchanged, providing a controlled numerical experiment. Interaction between the AGN physics and mergers in the three cases leads, respectively, to a star-forming, temporarily quenched and permanently quenched galaxy. However, the differences do not primarily lie in the black hole accretion rates, but in the kinetic effects of the merger: the galaxy is resilient against AGN feedback unless its gaseous disc is first disrupted. Typical accretion rates are comparable in the three cases, falling below 0.1 M⊙ yr-1, equivalent to around 2 per cent of the Eddington rate or 10-3 times the pre-quenching star formation rate, in agreement with observations. This low level of black hole accretion can be sustained even when there is insufficient dense cold gas for SF. Conversely, supernova feedback is too distributed to generate outflows in high-mass systems, and cannot maintain quenching over periods longer than the halo gas cooling time.

We evaluate the potential for current and future cosmic shear measurements from large galaxy surveys to constrain the impact of baryonic physics on the matter power spectrum. We do so using a model-independent parametrization that describes deviations of the matter power spectrum from the dark-matter-only case as a set of principal components that are localized in wavenumber and redshift. We perform forecasts for a variety of current and future data sets, and find that at least ˜90 per cent of the constraining power of these data sets is contained in no more than nine principal components. The constraining power of different surveys can be quantified using a figure of merit defined relative to currently available surveys. With this metric, we find that the final Dark Energy Survey data set (DES Y5) and the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey will be roughly an order of magnitude more powerful than existing data in constraining baryonic effects. Upcoming Stage IV surveys (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Euclid, and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope) will improve upon this by a further factor of a few. We show that this conclusion is robust to marginalization over several key systematics. The ultimate power of cosmic shear to constrain galaxy formation is dependent on understanding systematics in the shear measurements at small (sub-arcminute) scales. If these systematics can be sufficiently controlled, cosmic shear measurements from DES Y5 and other future surveys have the potential to provide a very clean probe of galaxy formation and to strongly constrain a wide range of predictions from modern hydrodynamical simulations.

Star formation and accretion onto supermassive black holes in the nuclei of galaxies are the two most energetic processes in the universe, producing the bulk of the observed emission throughout its history. We simulated the luminosity functions of star-forming and active galaxies for spectral lines that are thought to be good spectroscopic tracers of either phenomenon, as a function of redshift. We focused on the infrared (IR) and submillimeter domains, where the effects of dust obscuration are minimal. Using three different and independent theoretical models for galaxy formation and evolution, constrained by multi-wavelength luminosity functions, we computed the number of star-forming and active galaxies per IR luminosity and redshift bin. We converted the continuum luminosity counts into spectral line counts using relationships that we calibrated on mid- and far-IR spectroscopic surveys of galaxies in the local universe. Our results demonstrate that future facilities optimized for survey-mode observations, i.e., the Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics and the Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope, will be able to observe thousands of z > 1 galaxies in key fine-structure lines, e.g., [Si II], [O I], [O III], [C II], in a half-square-degree survey, with 1 hr integration time per field of view. Fainter lines such as [O IV], [Ne V], and H{sub 2} (0-0)S1 will be observed in several tens of bright galaxies at 1 < z < 2, while diagnostic diagrams of active nucleus versus star formation activity will be feasible even for normal z {approx} 1 galaxies. We discuss the new parameter space that these future telescopes will cover and that strongly motivates their construction.

This paper reports on the origin and distribution of the coronary arteries in normal mice and in mice of the iv/iv strain, which show situs inversus and heterotaxia. The coronary arteries were studied by direct observation of the aortic sinuses with the scanning electron microscope, and by examination of vascular corrosion casts. In the normal mouse, the left and right coronaries (LC, RC) arise from the respective Valsalva sinus and course along the ventricular borders to reach the heart apex. Along this course the coronary arteries give off small branches at perpendicular or acute angles to supply the ventricles. The ventricular septum is supplied by the septal artery, which arises as a main branch from the right coronary. Conus arteries arise from the main coronary trunks, from the septal artery and/or directly from the Valsalva sinus. The vascular casts demonstrate the presence of intercoronary anastomoses. The origin of the coronary arteries was found to be abnormal in 84% of the iv/iv mice. These anomalies included double origin, high take-off, slit-like openings and the presence of a single coronary orifice. These anomalies occurred singly or in any combination, and were independent of heart situs. The septal artery originated from RC in most cases of situs solitus but originated predominantly from LC in situs inversus hearts. Except for this anomalous origin no statistical correlation was found between the coronary anomalies and heart situs or a particular mode of heterotaxia. The coronary anomalies observed in the iv/iv mice are similar to those found in human hearts. Most coronary anomalies appear to be due to defective connections between the aortic root and the developing coronaries. iv/iv mice may therefore constitute a good model to study the development of similar anomalies in the human heart. PMID:11693308

This project seeks to provide evidence on the internal structure of the Escala Wechsler de Inteligencia para Niños-IV (EWIN-IV; Wechsler, 2007a ) through a confirmatory factor analysis and intercorrelational study. Also provided is information on the adaptation process and other sources of validity evidence in support of the EWIN-IV norms. The standardization data for the EWIN-IV were used for all analyses. The factor loadings and correlational patterns found on the EWIN-IV are comparable to those seen in the American versions of the test. The proposed factor and scoring structure of the EWIN-IV was supported.

Context. The shapes of galaxies are typically quantified by ratios of their quadrupole moments. Knowledge of these ratios (i.e. their measured standard deviation) is commonly used to assess the efficiency of weak gravitational lensing surveys. For faint galaxies, observational noise can make the denominator close to zero, so the ratios become ill-defined. Aims: Since the requirements cannot be formally tested for faint galaxies, we explore two complementary mitigation strategies. In many weak lensing contexts, the most problematic sources can be removed by a cut in measured size. This first technique is applied frequently. As our second strategy, we propose requirements directly on the quadrupole moments rather than their ratio. Methods: As an example of the first strategy, we have investigated how a size cut affects the required precision of the charge transfer inefficiency model for two shape measurement settings. For the second strategy, we analysed the joint likelihood distribution of the image quadrupole moments measured from simulated galaxies, and propagate their (correlated) uncertainties into ellipticities. Results: Using a size cut, we find slightly wider tolerance margins for the charge transfer inefficiency parameters compared to the full size distribution. However, subtle biases in the data analysis chain may be introduced. These can be avoided using the second strategy. To optimally exploit a Stage-IV dark energy survey, we find that the mean and standard deviation of a population of galaxies' quadrupole moments must to be known to better than 1.4 × 10-3 arcsec2, or the Stokes parameters to 1.9 × 10-3 arcsec2. Conclusions: Cuts in measured size remove sources that otherwise make ellipticity statistics of weak lensing galaxy samples diverge. However, size cuts bias the source population non-trivially. Assessing weak lensing data quality directly on the quadrupole moments instead mitigates the need for size cuts. Such testable requirements can form

Fossil record methods based on spectral synthesis techniques have matured over the past decade, and their application to integrated galaxy spectra fostered substantial advances on the understanding of galaxies and their evolution. Yet, because of the lack of spatial resolution, these studies are limited to a global view, providing no information about the internal physics of galaxies. Motivated by the CALIFA survey, which is gathering Integral Field Spectroscopy over the full optical extent of 600 galaxies, we have developed an end-to-end pipeline which: (i) partitions the observed data cube into Voronoi zones in order to, when necessary and taking due account of correlated errors, increase the S/N, (ii) extracts spectra, including propagated errors and bad-pixel flags, (iii) feeds the spectra into the STARLIGHT spectral synthesis code, (iv) packs the results for all galaxy zones into a single file, (v) performs a series of post-processing operations, including zone-to-pixel image reconstruction and unpacking the spectral and stellar population properties into multi-dimensional time, metallicity, and spatial coordinates. This work provides a description of this whole pipeline and its data products. These include 3D cubes of the stellar formation history, 2D maps of galaxy properties such as the v-field, stellar extinction, mean ages and metallicities, mass surface densities, star formation rates on different time scales and normalized in different ways, 1D averages in the temporal and spatial dimensions, projections of the stellar light and mass growth (x,y,t) cubes onto radius-age diagrams, etc. The results illustrate the richness of the combination of IFS data with spectral synthesis, providing a glimpse of what is to come from CALIFA and future IFS surveys.